GIFT  OF 


LINDSAY    RUSSELL 
Founder  and  President,  Japan  Society 


America   to  Japan 

A  Symposium  of  Papers  by  Representative 

Citizens  of  the  United  States  on  the 

Relations    between    Japan   and 

America    and    on     the 

Common    Interests    of 

the  Two  Countries 


Edited  by 

Lindsay  Russell 

President  of  the  Japan  Society,  New  York 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and  London 
Knickerbocker    press 

1915 


COPYRIGHT,  1915 

BY 
G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


Ubc  ftnfcfeerbocfeer  press,  flew 


The  Japan  Society  was  organized  in  New  York  ten 
years  back.  Its  declared  purpose  is  "  the  promotion 
of  friendly  relations  between  the  United  States  and 
Japan  and  the  diffusion  among  the  American  people 
of  a  more  accurate  knowledge  of  the  Island  Kingdom, 
its  aims,  ideals,  arts,  sciences,  industries  and  eco 
nomic  conditions."  The  present  membership  of  the 
Society  comprises  about  nine  hundred  Americans 
and  one  hundred  Japanese. 

In  1911  an  Advisory  Council  was  formed  in  Tokio, 
with  Baron  Shibusawa  as  Chairman,  to  cooperate 
with  the  parent  organization. 

The  headquarters  of  the  Society  is  at  165  Broadway, 
New  York  City. 


INTRODUCTION 

THIS  series  of  essays  was  inspired  by  a  Message 
of  like  spirit  and  purpose  from  Japan  to  the 
United  States,  admirably  edited  by  Naoichi 
Masaoka,  which  was  published  in  March,  1914,  in 
Tokyo,  and  later  in  New  York  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Japan  Society.  The  two  books  constitute 
an  interchange  of  thought  and  information  between 
leading  minds  of  both  countries,  unique  in  inter 
national  intercourse;  they  indicate  the  points 
upon  which  the  East  and  West  can  meet.  They 
should  help  to  remove  misunderstanding  and  to 
ensure  the  continuance  and  development  of  a 
mutual  and  friendly  public  sentiment. 

In  the  papers  constituting  the  Message  of 
America,  some  of  the  contributors  have  not  con 
fined  themselves  solely  to  interpreting  America  to 
Japan,  but  have  indicated  points  of  view  common 
to  many  Americans  regarding  Japan,  and  have 
also  emphasized  the  steady  progress  in  international 
relations.  As  the  book  is  to  be  widely  circulated 
and  read  in  the  United  States  as  well  as  in  Japan, 
all  that  is  said  should  be  of  service  for  the  inform 
ation  and  education  of  public  opinion  on  both  sides 
of  the  Pacific. 

LINDSAY  RUSSELL, 

Editor. 

NEW  YORK, 
March  i,  1915. 


For  mankind  are  one  in  spirit,  and  an  instinct  bears  along, 
Round  the  earth's  electric  circle,  the  swift  flash  of  right  or  wrong; 
Whether  conscious  or  unconscious,  yet  Humanity's  vast  frame, 
Through  its  ocean-sundered  fibres,  feels  the  gush  of  joy  or  shame  ;— 
In  the  gain  or  loss  of  one  race,  all  the  rest  have  equal  claim. 

LOWELL,  Present  Crisis. 


Tii 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Rights  and  Duties  of  Aliens    .  .          .         i 

By  Nicholas  Murray  Butler 
President,  Columbia  University 

Cooperation  and  Conciliation  .          .         5 

By  Elbert  H.  Gary 
Chairman  U.  S.  Steel  Corporation 

Sanctity  of  Treaties        .  .10 

By  Charles  W.  Eliot 
"^  President  Emeritus,  Harvard  University 

0  International  Ethics       .  1 2 

By  W.  Morgan  Shuster 

Ex-Member  Philippine  Commission  ;  Former 
Treasurer-General  and  Financial  Adviser  of 
Persia 

Racial  and  Religious  Differences      .  14 

By  A.  Barton  Hepburn 

Banker,  Ex-President  New  York  Chamber  of 
Commerce 

Goodwill 18 

By  Theodore  Roosevelt 

©The  Pacific  Coast  Peril 19 
By  Francis  Butler  Loomis 
Former  Assistant  Secretary  of  State 
ix 


Contents 


PAGE 


The  Golden  Rule 28 

By  William  Jennings  Bryan 

America  and  Race  Problem  .          .          .31 

By  the  Rev.  C.  F.  Aked,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Japan's   Literary   Relations   with   the   United 
States        .......       36 

George  Haven  Putnam 

Common  Sense  Called  For       ....       45 
By  Don  C.  Seitz 
Author — Surface  Japan 

Observations         /f00i*.  f?1'.          .         .         .       52 
By  Hon.  Thomas  J.  O'Brien 
Ex-Ambassador  to  Japan 

A  Red  Cross  Message     .....       59 
By  Mabel  Boardman 

Chairman    Executive     Committee,     American 
National  Red  Cross  Society 

'*}" Lest  We  Forget" 63 

By  John  Foord 
Journalist 

Industrial  Development 66 

By  William  Skinner 

Former  President  American  Silk  Association 

0  World  Unity          .          .          .  .         .68 

By  Hamilton  Holt 
Editor—  The  Independent 

Early  Financial  Relations        ....       72 
By  Henry  Clews 
Banker,  Author—  Fifty  Years  in  Wall  Street 


Contents  xi 

PAGE 

Since  Thirty  Years  .  •  76 

By  Larz  Anderson 
Ex-Ambassador  to  Japan 

Common  Ideals     .  .          .       81 

By  George  W.  Wickersham 
Former  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States 

The  Rights  of  Labor 

By  Louis  D.  Brandeis 

Lawyer,  Authority  on  Labor  Questions,  Arbitrator 
in  Labor  Disputes 

(Q  } What  the  West  Might  Learn  from  Japan    .  91 

By  George  Kennan 
Author,  Lecturer 

Eliminate  the  Barriers    .  •       95 

By  David  Starr  Jordan 
Chancellor,  Leland  Stanford  Junior  University 

Japanese  Students  -       98 

By  James  B.  Angell 
President  Emeritus,.  University  of  Michigan 

The  Lesson  from  Canadian- American  Relations       I  oo 
By  Harry  Pratt  Judson 
President,  University  of  Chicago 

Two  Nations  Teaching  Each  Other  .     102 

By  Samuel  T.  Dutton 

Professor  in  Teachers  College,  Columbia  Uni 
versity 

^'America's  Friends" IO7 

By  John  Franklin  Fort 
Ex-Governor  of  New  Jersey 


xii  Contents 


PAGE 


Thoughts  about  Our  Japanese  Neighbors  .          .     1 1 1 
By  Emerson  McMillan 
Banker 

Business  Organizations  .          .          .          .          .115 
By  Charles  H.  Sherrill 
Late  American  Minister  to  Argentina 

The  Message  of  Big  Business  .          .          .118 

By  Joseph  I.  C.  Clarke 
Editor,  Special  Correspondent 

To  Japanese  Children     .          .          .          .          .124 
By  Fannie  Caldwell  Macaulay 
("Frances  Little")  Author 

An  Appreciation    .          .          .          .          .         .128 

By  David  Jayne  Hill 
Diplomat,  Historian 

The  Meeting  Ground  of  Business  and  Philan 
thropy       130 

By  Elgin  R.  L.  Gould 

Author,  Philanthropist,  Publicist 

Japan's  Opportunity  in  China  .          .          .141 

By  Gustavus  Ohlinger 

Lawyer,  formerly  in  Shanghai,  now  in  Toledo, 
Ohio 

Japan's  Ideals  and  Problems  .          .         .  144 

By  Charles  A.  Coffin 
Chairman,  General  Electric  Company 

Public  Opinion 150 

By  James  M.  Taylor 

Former  President,  Vassar  College 


Contents  xiii 

PAGE 

Treaty  Thraldom  and  Release  .          .155 

By  Albert  Shaw 
Publicist,  Editor — Review  of  Reviews 

Human  Brotherhood :  An  Unexplored  Continent      167 
By  Darwin  P.  Kingsley 
President,  New  York  Life  Insurance  Company 

Treaty  Obligations 175 

By  Hon.  Elihu  Root 

Ex-Secretary  of  State,  ex-United  States  Senator 

To  Our  Near  Neighbor  in  the  Far  East       .          .182 
By  Dean  C.  Worcester 

Author;  Member,  First  and  Second  United  States 
Philippine  Commissions;  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  Philippines,  1901-1913 

(Common  Interests          .          .          .          .          .192 
By  Arthur  Bullard 
Author,  Special  Correspondent 

The  Link  of  Literature 195 

By  C.  Alphonso  Smith 

Poe  Professor  of  English,  University  of  Virginia; 
Exchange  Professor  with  Berlin,  1910-1911. 

Christian  Internationalism      ....     206 
By  Rev.  Charles  S.  MacFarland,  D.D. 
General    Secretary,    Federal    Council    of    the 
Churches  of  Christ  in  America 

Eye  to  Eye 214 

By  Benjamin  Ide  Wheeler 
President,  University  of  California 


xiv  Contents 

PACK 

What  America  Expects  of  Japan      .          .         .     220 
By  Jeremiah  W.  Jenks 

Director  of  the  Division  of  Public  Affairs,  New 
York  University,  and  of  the  Far  Eastern 
Bureau 

Recollections          ......     229 

By  William  Elliott  Griffis 

Formerly  of  the  Imperial  University,  Tokyo. 

Panama- Pacific  International  Exposition  .     233 

By  Charles  C.  Moore 
President 

American  Appreciation  of  Japanese  Art    .          .     239 
By  Howard  Mansfield 

Experiences  of  a  Japanese  in  America       .          .251 
By  T.  lyenaga 

Professorial  Lecturer  in  Political  Science  at  the 
University  of  Chicago 

The  Economic  Value  of  Shorter  Working  Periods     260 

By  Abram  I.  Elkus 

Chief  Counsel,  New  York  State  Factory  Investi 
gating  Commission;  Regent  of  the  University 
of  the  State  of  New  York 

The  Higher  Education  of  American  Women        .     267 
By  M.  L.  Burton 
President,  Smith  College 

Strangers  Become  Neighbors  .         .         .     276 

By  Hamilton  W.  Mabie 
Author,  Editor,  and  Publicist 


Contents  xv 

PAGE 

America's  Real  Interest  in  the  Orient       .          .282 
By  Lindsay  Russell 

Member  New  York  Bar;  Founder  and  President, 
Japan  Society 

Landmarks  in  Japanese-American  Relations     .     295 

Millard  Fillmore,  President  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  to  His  Imperial  Majesty,  the 
Emperor  of  Japan  .  .  .  .  .310 

Lincoln's  Reply  to  the  Tycoon  of  Japan,  August 
i,  1861 314 

Notes  Exchanged  between  the  United  States 
and  Japan,  November  30,  1908  .  .  .315 


America  to  Japan 


RIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  ALIENS 

BY  NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER 

President,  Columbia  University 

j 

A  VISIT  to  Japan  is  a  pleasure  and  a  privilege 
to  which  I  constantly  look  forward.  There  hangs 
over  that  country  and  its  people  not  only  the 
mysterious  charm  which  the  history  and  the 
thought  of  the  Orient  have  for  the  whole  Western 
world,  but  also  the  attraction  which  attaches  to 
an  Oriental  people  setting  its  feet  with  vigor  and 
high  intelligence  on  the  paths  of  progress.  The 
scholarship,  the  art,  and  the  poetry  of  Japan  seem 
to  me  to  combine  with  curious  and  significant  skill 
the  subtle  insights  of  the  East  with  that  firm 
grasp  on  reality  that  has  so  long  been  character 
istic  of  the  West.  The  entrance  of  a  people  and 
a  civilization  like  this  into  the  group  of  leading  and 
representative  nations  is  an  event  to  be  hailed 
with  joy  and  thanksgiving.  Such  a  people  pro 
vides  the  raw  material  out  of  which  to  fashion  and 

to  forge  a  new  and  strong  link  in  the  chain  which 

* 
i 


2  'America  to  Japan 

binds  the  advancing  nations  of  the  world  together 
in  cooperation  and  in  peaceful  emulation. 

Much  of  history  is  written  by  the  hand  of  imi 
tation.  More  than  once  at  a  critical  point  in  the 
annals  of  mankind  a  nation  has  gone  wrong  through 
trusting  not  to  its  own  better  and  nobler  instincts 
and  ambitions,  but  to  the  imitation  of  what  had 
been  done  by  other  nations.  If  a  long-time  stu 
dent  of  the  history  of  civilization  might  venture 
to  address  a  word  of  counsel  to  his  friends  and 
colleagues  in  Japan,  it  would  be  that  Japan  should 
study  with  anxious  and  critical  care  the  history 
of  ideas  and  the  history  of  institutions  as  these 
are  recorded  among  the  peoples  of  the  Western 
world.  While  such  study  will  reveal  much  to 
imitate,  it  will  also  reveal  much  to  avoid.  There 
is,  for  example,  no  reason  why  Japan — from  one 
point  of  view  an  old  country  and  from  another 
point  of  view  a  new  civilization — should  not  use 
the  lessons  of  Western  history  to  avoid  the  moral 
and  political  blunders  that  have  cost  the  world 
so  much  in  life,  in  treasure,  and  in  happiness. 
Japan  is  fortunate  in  looking  out  upon  a  world 
in  which  the  Powers  that  make  for  good  were 
never  stronger  or  more  filled  with  hope.  Their 
age-long  struggle  with  the  Powers  that  make  for 
evil  is  not  over  and  never  will  be  over,  but  despite 
much  distressing  evidence  to  the  contrary,  it  is 
my  belief  that  the  Powers  that  make  for  good  are 
justified  in  their  optimism  as  they  never  have 
been  before. 


NICHOLAS    MURRAY    BUTLER 

President  of  Columbia  University;   Member  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts 

and  Letters;   President  of  the  American  Branch  of  the  Association  for 

International  Conciliation;    Director  of  the  Division  of  Inter 

course  and  Education  of  the  Carnegie  Endowment 

(or  International  Peace 


The  Rights  of  Aliens  3 

There  are  certain  definite  political  policies 
which,  if  adopted,  would  greatly  advance  the 
good  order  and  the  peace  of  the  world.  One  of 
these  is  an  obligation  that  rests  upon  the  people 
of  the  United  States.  The  Congress  should 
promptly  heed  the  advice  given  by  many  of  the 
wisest  and  most  experienced  Americans  to  pro 
vide  by  law  that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  may,  on  its  own  motion  and  in  its  own 
courts,  enforce  the  rights  granted  to  aliens  by 
treaty.  One  President  after  another  has  asked 
for  this  legislation.  Until  this  legislation  is  had 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  will  always 
be  at  a  serious  disadvantage  in  negotiating  treaties 
with  other  Powers,  and  it  will  be  compelled  to 
look  with  helpless  disapproval  upon  acts  often 
committed  in  sheer  thoughtlessness  that  involve 
the  honor  and  the  good  faith  of  the  United  States. 

But  the  principle  here  at  stake  has  much  wider 
application.  No  one  would  propose  that  a  nation 
should  divest  itself  of  its  sovereign  right  to  say 
who  may  or  who  may  not  enter  its  gates.  But 
the  time  has  come  when  every  civilized  nation 
should  say  that  an  alien,  once  granted  the  privilege 
of  entering  its  territory  or  of  residing  therein, 
should  have  precisely  the  same  rights,  privileges, 
and  duties  both  as  to  legal  protection  and  as  to 
taxation  that  belong  to  citizens.  Nine-tenths 
of  the  diplomatic  friction  that  now  exists  in  the 
world  would  pass  away  were  such  a  humane  and 
broad-minded  policy  adopted  by  all  nations.  It 


4  America  to  Japan 

would  remain  for  each  nation  to  say  who  might 
or  who  might  not  enter.  It  would  remain  for 
each  nation  to  say  who  might  or  who  might  not, 
through  the  acquisition  of  citizenship,  share  in 
the  political  life  of  the  country  and  in  choosing 
its  officers  of  government ;  but  in  his  civil  relations 
the  alien  resident  should  be  put  on  precisely  the 
same  plane  as  the  citizen.  He  should  be  granted 
no  rights  or  immunities  other  than  those  which 
the  citizen  enjoys,  and  he  should  be  subjected  to 
no  limitations  or  disadvantages  that  are  not 
shared  by  him  with  citizens  generally.  For  the 
great  nations  of  the  earth  to  adopt  this  policy  and 
to  enter  upon  it  in  good  faith  would  be  to  advance 
the  cause  of  peace  and  international  good  will  as 
perhaps  no  other  single  policy  could. 

The  world  is  ruled  in  last  resort  by  its  public 
opinion.  Wise  and  just  public  opinion  rests  in 
turn  upon  instruction  and  education.  The  ex 
change  of  ideas,  the  international  visits  of  leading 
personalities,  the  acquaintance  by  one  people 
with  the  literature,  art,  and  science  of  another,  the 
development  of  international  trade  and  commerce, 
are  the  steps  by  which  to  promote  the  acquisition 
and  the  spread  of  the  international  mind.  Armed 
with  the  international  mind  rather  than  with  huge 
navies  and  with  great  armies,  a  civilized  people 
is  equipped  to  march  in  the  front  rank  of  those 
who  advance  the  cause  of  humanity  throughout 
the  world. 


COOPERATION    AND    CONCILIATION 

BY  ELBERT  H.    GARY 

Chairman  U.  S.  Steel  Corporation 

WHAT  Japan  and  the  United  States  need  is  to 
get  together  in  a  spirit  of  cooperation  and  con 
ciliation.  We  should  be  open  and  frank  with  each 
other  in  the  consideration  of  all  questions  which 
arise,  and  it  should  be  remembered  that  there  is 
no  way  of  permanently  settling  any  question 
except  on  the  basis  of  right  and  justice. 

In  the  days  gone  by  it  was  a  common  practice 
in  this  country  for  competitors  in  the  steel  busi 
ness,  with  which  I  am  connected,  to  act  in  accord 
ance  with  the  rule  that  "  Might  makes  Right,"  and 
on  the  basis  that  permanent  success  could  be 
reached  and  enjoyed  only  by  those  having  the 
greatest  strength  and  power  or  the  longest  purse. 
As  a  result,  it  frequently  happened  that  the  weaker 
or  poorer  were  crushed  and  destroyed.  A  com 
petitor  was  treated  as  a  common  enemy.  Methods 
for  his  defeat  and  overthrow  were  used  regardless 
of  good  morals  or  good  policy.  Possibly,  in  some 
instances,  this  redounded  to  the  pecuniary  advan 
tage  of  a  few,  though  even  that  is  doubtful.  Cer- 

5 


6  America  to  Japan 

tainly,  it  was  not  permanently  beneficial  to  the 
general  public;  and,  from  the  standpoint  of  good 
morals,  was  a  shame  and  a  disgrace.  I  do  not, 
of  course,  assert  that  there  was  any  breach  of  the 
law,  or  that  force  or  violence  was  resorted  to;  but 
I  mean  that  there  was  in  some  cases  lack  of  con 
fidence,  a  withholding  of  information,  a  piracy  of 
business,  an  indiscriminate  and  reckless  cutting  of 
prices,  a  promise  to  recognize  the  rights  of  others 
made  with  no  intention  of  fulfilling  the  promise, 
an  overbearing,  unfair,  destructive  competition 
which  drove  many  out  of  business,  kept  many 
others  on  the  ragged  edge  of  existence,  and  brought 
demoralization  to  the  industry,  and  more  or 
less  unfavorably  influenced  business  and  financial 
conditions  generally. 

During  the  last  ten  years,  methods  and  condi 
tions  have  changed  for  the  better.  As  between 
the  gentlemen  who  are  in  control  of  the  iron  and 
steel  industry  in  America  at  the  present  time,  there 
exists  a  most  intimate  relation.  In  their  inter 
course  and  communications  they  are  open,  frank, 
and  unreserved.  In  their  treatment  of  each  other 
they  intend  to  be  just  and  fair.  They  can  witness 
the  success  and  prosperity  of  their  neighbors  with 
out  the  slightest  feeling  of  envy  or  discomfort. 
They  believe  in  competition,  but  not  hostility; 
in  rivalry,  but  not  antagonism;  in  progress  and 
success  for  all,  but  not  the  punishment  or  the 
destruction  of  any.  This  attitude  has,  in  a  marked 
degree,  redounded  to  the  benefit  of  all. 


Cooperation  and  Conciliation         7 

From  time  to  time  during  the  last  decade  the 
people  of  this  country  have  been  told  that  Japan 
had  selfish  designs  on  the  United  States  and  that 
sooner  or  later  it  would  be  necessary  for  us  to 
defend  ourselves  against  this  peril.  Doubtless, 
similar  canards  with  respect  to  our  attitude  toward 
Japan  have  gained  more  or  less  publicity  in  that 
country.  Each  of  us  has  his  own  opinion  as  to 
whether  these  expressions  are  the  honest  opinions 
of  thinking  men,  the  idle  vaporings  of  sensation 
hunters,  or  the  outbursts  of  professional  calamity 
howlers.  For  my  own  part,  I  believe  there  is  no 
foundation  for  rumors  of  this  kind,  and  there  never 
will  be  if  these  two  great  nations  approach  their 
problems  in  the  spirit  shown  by  the  iron  and  steel 
manufacturers  of  this  country. 

If  there  ever  was  any  likelihood  of  war  between 
Japan  and  the  United  States  the  present  cataclysm 
which  envelops  a  large  portion  of  Europe  and 
involves  the  lives  of  hundreds  of  millions  of  people 
should  prove  the  strongest  possible  deterrent.  We 
cannot  think  of  this  conflict  without  feelings  of 
horror.  It  is  impossible  to  realize  the  extent  of 
the  suffering  and  misery  which  it  entails.  If  it 
should  continue  for  eighteen  months  from  the 
time  of  the  commencement,  the  loss  of  life  by 
reason  of  injuries  received  on  the  battlefields  and 
sickness  directly  resulting  from  participation  in 
the  war  will  aggregate  at  least  four  millions  in 
number;  and  the  direct  and  indirect  pecuniary 
loss  to  all  the  nations  concerned  will  amount  to 


8  America  to  Japan 

more  than  thirty-five  billion  dollars.  Indeed  we 
will  never  be  informed  of  the  actual  loss  in  lives 
or  money  which  will  result  from  this  war.  And 
after  the  war  is  ended  what  will  be  the  conse 
quences?  Millions  of  widows  and  orphans  bereft 
of  protection  or  support;  the  loss  of  millions  of 
dollars  annually  by  reason  of  the  deaths  or  crippled 
condition  of  soldiers  whose  productive  capacity 
has  been  eliminated  or  decreased ;  nations  groaning 
under  the  burden  of  taxation  to  pay  interest  on 
enormous  national  debts;  pensions  to  survivors 
amounting  annually  to  millions  upon  millions. 
And  more  than  anything  else  the  anguish  of  mind 
on  the  part  of  survivors  is  something  which  cannot 
be  described  or  measured. 

With  the  awful  consequences  of  this  conflict 
before  us  it  becomes  apparent  that  even  the  nation 
that  wins  will  surely  be  a  loser.  The  enormous 
cost  before  mentioned  and  the  long- continued 
suffering  on  the  part  of  the  survivors  will  not  be 
fully  covered  by  any  success  or  glory  or  indemnity. 
Every  participant  in  the  contest  must  now  realize 
that  it  would  have  been  better  to  settle,  if  possible, 
all  the  existing  differences,  real  or  imaginary,  and 
on  a  basis  approved  by  some  competent  and  im 
partial  tribunal.  The  sum  expended  and  to  be 
expended  by  the  different  nations  would  have 
greatly  extended  their  opportunities  for  success 
and  happiness  if  wisely  used  for  those  purposes. 

With  this  striking  object  lesson  before  us  of  the 
utter  futility  of  war  shall  we  not  seek  by  every 


Cooperation  and  Conciliation         9 

honorable  means  to  cultivate  friendship  and  con 
fidence  between  the  peoples  of  Japan  and  the 
United  States;  shall  we  not  determine  that  the 
settlement  of  all  questions  must  be  based  on  what 
is  right  rather  than  upon  the  strength  of  arms  and 
that  for  every  reason  it  is  to  the  interest  of  all 
nations  to  secure  and  maintain  the  most  friendly 
relations  with  every  other  nation? 

It  makes  little  difference  what  language  we 
speak  or  to  what  flag  we  owe  allegiance,  for  we 
know  that  our  hearts  speak  the  same  language. 
Our  instincts  concerning  everything  that  is  worthy 
are  the  same.  To  know  what  is  the  best  and 
right  thing  to  do  ought  to  be  the  chief  desire  of  all. 

"Chaos,  destruction,  suffering,  loss 
Are  war's  heritage.     The  sword  demands 
The  creed  that  'Might  makes  Right.' 
Invert  the  sword  and  it  is  the  cross 
Of  peace  on  earth.     Good  will  demands 
The  trust  that  'Right  makes  Might.'  " 


SANCTITY  OF  TREATIES 

BY     CHARLES     W.     ELIOT 

President  Emeritus,  Harvard  University 

I  WELCOME  heartily  the  opportunity  to  take 
part  in  an  adequate  reply  to  Count  Okuma's  recent 
message  to  the  American  people. 

Many  thoughtful  and  patriotic  Americans  re 
joice  that  Japan  has  engaged  vigorously  in  the 
great  European  War,  in  conformity  with  the  terms 
of  her  wise  alliance  with  Great  Britain.  Germany 
has  been  possessed  for  twenty  years  with  an  intense 
desire  not  only  to  obtain  more  territory  and  more 
ports  in  Europe,  but  also  to  possess  strong  colonies 
in  the  Pacific  and  the  Far  East,  and  close  connec 
tions  through  the  Near  East  with  Southern  Asia. 
The  cooperation  of  Japan  in  the  present  war 
will  secure  the  transfer  of  the  colonies  Germany 
had  acquired  in  the  Orient  to  other  Powers. 
Indeed,  this  beneficent  result  has  already  been 
achieved.  Again,  the  active  cooperation  of  Japan 
will  give  her  a  rightful  place  in  the  Conference 
that  will  ultimately  settle  the  terms  of  peace  for 
Europe  and  the  world,  when  the  present  horri 
ble  convulsion  is  over;  and  Japan  will  represent 

10 


Sanctity  of  Treaties  1 1 

there  the  best  humanitarian  sentiments  of  the 
Orient. 

The  effective  execution  by  Japan  of  its  treaty 
with  Great  Britain,  and  of  its  recent  engagement 
with  China  in  regard  to  Kiaochow  and  Tsingtao, 
will  have  high  value  for  the  future  peace  of  the 
world;  because  that  peace  must  depend  on  the 
faithful  execution  of  international  agreements. 
Public  confidence  in  that  faithful  execution  has 
been  rudely  shaken  of  late  by  Germany's  viola 
tion  of  her  treaties  and  agreements  on  the  score 
of  ''military  necessity."  Europe  and  America 
will  both  be  grateful  to  Japan  for  reenforcing  the 
public  opinion  of  the  Occident  with  regard  to  the 
sanctity  and  supreme  value  to  humanity  of  inter 
national  agreements. 

All  Americans  who  have  knowledge  of  Japanese 
capacities  and  loyalties  rejoice  that  the  present 
great  crisis  in  human  affairs  finds  Count  Okuma 
Premier  in  Japan ;  for  they  know  that  he  has  always 
been  a  friend  of  peace,  an  opponent  of  all  world- 
power  ambitions,  an  advocate  of  justice  and  good 
will  in  governmental  action  at  home  and  abroad, 
a  warm  advocate  of  his  country's  highest  interest, 
and  a  firm  believer  in  international  honor  and  good 
faith. 


INTERNATIONAL  ETHICS 


BY  W.  MORGAN  SHUSTER 

Ex-member  Philippine  Commission,  Former  Treasurer-General 
and  Financial  Advisor  of  Persia 


As  one  who  has  long  admired  the  Japanese 
people  and  their  position  among  the  world  powers, 
I  am  glad  of  this  opportunity  to  send  a  few  words 
from  an  American  friend  and  sincere  well-wisher. 

With  a  multitude  of  other  American  friends  of 
Japan,  I  share  the  hope  that  she  will  become  as 
great  in  the  council  of  nations  through  her  high 
international  standards  and  strict  observance  of 
ethics  as  she  has  become  powerful  through  the 
valor  and  skill  of  her  armies  and  navies,  and  that 
the  great  influence  which  she,  as  a  progressive 
and  enlightened  nation,  exerts  in  the  eastern  hemi 
sphere  will  be  so  used  that  international  relations 
throughout  the  world  will  continuously  improve. 

It  may  be  fairly  claimed  that  the  Japanese 
people  are  well  in  the  van  of  all  nations  in  the 
matter  of  international  ethics. 

No  student  of  contemporary  history  could  fail 
to  be  impressed  by  the  dignified,  gallant,  and 
generous  conduct  of  the  Japanese  Government 

12 


International  Ethics  13 

toward  those  Germans  who  found  themselves  in 
Japan  when  the  war  broke  out. 

It  is  unthinkable  that  there  should  be  serious 
trouble  between  Japan  and  the  United  States. 
With  the  immense  Pacific  Ocean  lying  between 
the  two  countries  there  is  no  shadow  of  an  excuse 
for  friction.  The  natural  and  reasonable  field  for 
Japanese  political  influence  is  in  the  East;  for 
that  of  the  United  States,  strictly  in  the  West. 

The  accident  of  war,  sixteen  years  ago,  placed 
the  United  States  flag  over  the  Philippine  Islands. 
I  believe  that  it  was  neither  the  wish  nor  the  inten 
tion  of  the  American  people  to  acquire  a  perman 
ent  sovereignty  over  those  islands,  and  I  hope 
that  this  nation  will  not  permanently  hold  the 
Filipino  people  against  their  will. 

I  believe  that  the  Filipino  people  should  be 
granted  their  independence,  and  trust  that  Japan 
and  the  United  States  will  find  it  possible  to  unite 
in  a  permanent  treaty  to  neutralize  and  protect 
those  islands  from  foreign  aggression,  whatever 
its  source. 

If  this  shall  be  done,  I  think  that  the  intercourse 
between  that  new  republic  and  your  ancient 
empire  will  prove  one  of  the  influences  to  urge 
the  Filipino  people  onward  to  a  highly  honorable 
and  successful  place  among  the  nations. 

I  earnestly  desire  for  Japan  the  fullest  measure 
of  peace  and  prosperity. 


RACIAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  DIFFERENCES 

BY  A.   BARTON  HEPBURN 

Banker,  Ex-President  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce 

WHAT  Japan  really  wants  is  full  recognition  by 
the  nations  of  the  world.  She  asks  for  her  citizens 
that  they,  by  treaty,  be  placed  upon  the  plane  of 
equality  with  the  most  favored  nations,  that  they 
be  recognized  as  the  equal  of  any  nation  of  the 
Caucasian  race;  in  short,  that  the  Japanese  be 
given  the  right  of  naturalization,  in  order  that 
they  may  become  citizens  (for  instance,  of  Canada 
and  the  United  States)  upon  the  same  terms  that 
the  French,  Germans,  Russians,  Austrians,  Italians, 
and  Spanish  may  become  citizens  of  these  two 
great  countries. 

Their  ambition  is  certainly  a  laudable  one,  and 
must  command  general  sympathy.  The  con 
gested  population  of  Japan  naturally  induces 
emigration.  Canada  and  the  United  States, 
because  of  their  sparsely  settled  condition  and 
their  immediate  proximity — separated,  or  con 
nected,  as  you  please,  by  the  ocean — naturally 
invite  immigration.  This  raises  the  question  of 
racial  admixture,  an  admixture  such  as  would 
produce  a  harmonious  people,  a  community  reason - 

14 


Racial  and  Religious  Differences    15 

ably  free  from  faction  and  schism.  This  question 
gives  much  concern  to  many  of  our  good  citizens. 

Another  influence,  and  one  which  asserts  itself 
most  strongly  in  politics,  is  the  opposition  of 
organized  labor  to  immigration  generally,  and 
especially  to  Japanese  and  Chinese  labor,  because 
they  are  supposed  to  be  disposed  to  work  for  a 
lower  wage. 

All  cheerfully  concede  intellectual  equality  to 
the  Japanese;  they  have  demonstrated  their 
prowess  in  arms,  their  ability  to  administer  wisely 
and  well  all  the  functions  of  government,  and  their 
ability  to  take  first  rank  in  all  affairs  of  commerce, 
manufacturing,  and  finance.  In  questions  of 
morals  and  ethics  Japan  ranks  well  with  other 
nations.  They  differ  widely  in  the  matter  of 
religion,  and  it  is  feared  that  this  might  militate 
against  a  desirable  assimilation  with  our  people. 
Differences  in  religion  are  responsible  for  the  most 
pronounced  feuds  and  most  sanguinary  wars 
known  to  history.  Religious  differences  and 
racial  differences  are  responsible  for  the  existing 
turbulent  conditions  in  the  states  of  Southern 
Europe,  and  show  that  the  softening  influence  of 
generations  has  failed  to  remove  the  same.  The 
outcroppings  of  the  recent  war  with  the  Balkan 
States  and  Turkey  pertinently  illustrate  what  I 
mean. 

As  it  appears  to  me,  the  above-mentioned  influ 
ences  are  the  only  ones  that  make  it  difficult  to 
concede  all  that  Japan  desires.  All  Americans 


16  America  to  Japan 

entertain  for  Japan  the  highest  respect  and  admi 
ration,  fully  realize  their  excellence  as  a  people, 
and  are  glad  to  concede  them  to  be  our  equal  in 
the  possession  of  those  qualities  that  make  a 
nation  great.  I  am  sure  that  the  Japanese  know 
and  realize  as  well  as  we  do,  the  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  granting,  at  the  present  time,  all  that  they 
desire. 

The  policy  of  exclusion,  so  long  maintained  by 
Japan,  caused  her  to  be  known  as  "the  hermit 
nation."  The  outside  world,  with  great  energy 
and  pertinacity,  sought  to  open  her  ports  to  com 
merce,  and  in  every  way  cultivated  reciprocal 
relations.  Japan  has,  in  course  of  time,  accepted 
the  principle  of  reciprocity  for  which  the  United 
States  contended,  at  the  time  of  the  visit  of  Com 
modore  Perry  to  the  Bay  of  Yeddo  in  1854  and 
which  contention  was  continued  in  subsequent 
years,  and  now  in  turn  asks  of  the  United  States 
full  and  complete  recognition,  and  that  her  citizens 
be  admitted  to  our  country  and  be  given  all  the 
privileges  that  we  accord  to  others.  The  situation 
has  changed;  the  policy  of  exclusion  is  now  being 
practiced  by  the  United  States.  Abstractly  and 
as  a  matter  of  general  principle,  her  contention 
seems  just.  The  world  is  rapidly  being  drawn 
more  closely  together,  community  of  interest  and 
bonds  of  sympathy  are  being  established  and 
fostered,  and  the  embarrassments  of  to-day  will  be 
resolved  by  the  ameliorating  influences  of  time, 
but  there  are  manifest  practical  difficulties  to  be 


Racial  and  Religious  Differences     17 

overcome  before  granting  her  whole  claim.  This 
should  not  militate  against  the  maintenance  of 
cordial  friendly  relations.  We  have  no  rivalries 
except  the  rivalry  of  trade  and  commerce,  and  the 
prosperity  of  each  contributes  to  the  prosperity  of 
the  other.  We  have  no  territorial  ambitions  that 
can  beget  conflict,  and  both  nations  should,  and 
I  believe  will,  continue  in  the  strongest  bonds  of 
amity  and  good  will,  mutually  helpful  and  always 
at  peace. 


GOOD  WILL 

BY  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

FEW  things  are  more  important  to  the  future 
progress  of  the  world  than  the  heartiest  good  will 
and  a  complete  understanding  between  the  Empire 
of  Japan  and  the  Republic  of  the  United  States. 
Japan  made  her  entry  into  the  circle  of  the  great 
advanced  civilized  nations  of  modern  times  only 
fifty  years  ago.  Her  progress  has  been  astound 
ing.  The  lessons  that  the  American  people  can 
and  ought  to  learn  from  her  are  numerous  and  of 
the  highest  importance.  Nothing  is  more  import 
ant  to  the  future  of  all  the  civilized  communities 
that  border  on  the  great  Pacific  Ocean  than  that 
the  United  States  and  Japan  should  work  hand 
in  hand  for  the  development  of  mankind  on  the 
basis  of  national  self-respect  and  mutuality  of 
respect.  I  speak  for  every  thoughtful  American 
when  I  express  my  earnest  desire  for  the  future 
well-being  of  Japan. 


18 


THE  PACIFIC  COAST  PERIL 

BY  FRANCIS  BUTLER  LOOMIS 

Former  Assistant  Secretary  of  State 

THE  campaign  against  the  Japanese  in  Cali 
fornia  as  it  is  carried  on  by  professional  agitators 
seems  to  be  based  upon  misinformation  and  mis 
understanding,  some  of  which  is  real  and  some  of 
which  is  wilfully  feigned.  / 

There  can  be  no  clear  comprehension  of  the 
questions  at  issue  between  the  Government  of 
Japan  and  that  of  our  own  country  unless  cer 
tain  fundamental  facts  with  respect  to  Japan  be 
come  a  matter  of  common  knowledge. 

1.  The  Government  of  Japan  earnestly  desires 
peace  with  the  United  States  and  a  continuance 
of  the  pleasant  relations  which  have  marked  the 
intercourse  between  the  two  countries  for  upwards 
of  fifty  years. 

2.  The  Japanese  people  have  an  historic  and 
sentimental  bias  in  favor  of  the  United  States. 

3.  Japan  is  not  seeking  to  acquire  the  Philip 
pines,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  think  that  she 
wants  them. 

19 


20  America  to  Japan 

4.  Japan  does  not  want  war.     She  earnestly 
desires  peace  with  all  nations. 

5.  Great  changes  have  taken  place  in  Japan 
within  the  last  decade.     The  pronounced  mani 
festations  of  radical  thinking  and  unrest  which 
have  been  visible  in  all  parts  of  the  civilized  world 
have  had  their  sympathetic  responses  in  Japan. 
Opposition  to  the  Government  and  to  the  estab 
lished  order  is  stronger  and  more  militant  to-day 
in  Japan  than  it  ever  was  before  and  this  condition 
has  to  be  taken  seriously  into  account.     In  short, 
the  making  of  war  or  peace  in  the  future,  in  Japan, 
may  not  lie  wholly  in  the  hands  of  the  Government. 

InjQpS  I  had  several  talks  with  Prince  Katsura 
and  with  Prince  I  to.  The  day  before  leav 
ing  Japan,  where  I  had  discharged  a  confidential 
diplomatic  mission,  Prince  Katsura,  who  was 
then  Prime  Minister,  sent  for  me.  He  discussed 
for  two  hours  the  future  of  Japan  and  the  plans 
which  were  then  forming  for  the  development  of 
that  country  in  an  industrial  way.  It  was  ex 
pected  that  what  he  told  me  would  be  informally 
communicated  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States.  Early  in  the  following  year,  a  fortnight 
before  Mr.  Taft  was  inaugurated,  there  was  a  re- 
crudescence  of  the  Japanese  question  in  this 
country,  and  I  put  in  the  form  of  an  interview  the 
salient  points  of  my  talk  with  Prince  Katsura. 
This  was  published  at  the  instance  of  the  President 
and  of  Mr.  Knox,  who  was  about  to  become  Secre 
tary  of  State.  The  article  was  given  wide  pub- 


The  Pacific  Coast  Peril  21 

licity  by  the  Associated  Press  and  had  a  tranquil- 
izing  effect,  for  Prince  Katsura  made  it  very 
plain  that  Japan  had  no  further  military  ambi 
tions,  no  desire  for  conquest,  no  design  upon  the 
Philippines.  He  said  with  sincere  and  convincing 
emphasis  that  the  future  of  Japan  must  be  an 
industrial  one. 

"  We  must  make  this  Island,"  he  affirmed,  "the 
great  workshop  and  factory  for  the  Orient,  and  try 
in  a  large  measure  to  supply  Oriental  countries  with 
manufactured  goods.  In  the  development  of  Korea, 
Formosa,  and  possibly  some  parts  of  Manchuria,  we 
shall  have  all  we  want  to  do  in  the  way  of  colonization 
and  expansion.  If  we  can  well  and  wisely  administer 
Korea  and  Formosa  they  will  afford  an  outlet  for 
practically  all  the  Japanese  who  may  wish  to  leave 
their  native  country.  To  bring  about  the  upbuild 
ing  of  Japan  in  an  industrial  sense  and  to  develop 
Korea  and  Formosa  will  take  all  of  our  resources. 
We  shall  have  neither  time  nor  money  for  war.  A 
certain  military  standard  will  have  to  be  maintained 
for  self-defense,  but  you  will  see  that  our  expenditures 
in  this  direction  will  be  reasonable  and  furnish  no  just 
cause  for  alarm  or  suspicion." 

The  policy  outlined  by  Prince  Katsura  and 
approved  by  Prince  I  to  has  since  been  substantially 
followed. 

This  country  in  its  official  intercourse  with 
Japan  has  never  had  reason  to  doubt  the  good 
faith,  the  honesty,  the  straightforwardness  of  that 
Government.  This  is  an  important  point  and 


22  'America  to  "Japan 

should  be  borne  in  mind  by  all  persons  who  are 
interested  in  the  Japanese  and  their  relations  to 
the  United  States.  There  is  no  Government  on 
earth  more  scrupulous  in  its  dealings  with  this 
country  than  that  of  Japan.  We  have  nothing 
to  fear  from,  Japan  so  far  as  its  Government  is 
concerned,  //if  questions  of  an  embarrassing 
nature  arise  between  the  two  countries,  they  are  of 
our  own  making^  If  there  is  an  unfortunate  situa 
tion  on  the  Pacific  Coast  in  respect  to  the  Japanese, 
we  are  responsible  for  it,  not  the  Japanese  Govern 
ment.  //With  unwavering  constancy  and  fidelity 
they  nave  maintained  "the  gentlemen's  agree 
ment"  by  which  they  undertook  to  suppress  the 
immigration  of  Japanese  laborers  to  the  United 
States.  The  inflowing  stream  of  coolies  from 
Japan  has  ceased.  There  are  about  60,000  Japan 
ese  in  California,  and  the  number  remains  practi 
cally  stationary.  The  Japanese  who  are  domiciled 
in  our  Pacific  Coast  States  are  not  to-day  a  menace 
to  those  commonwealths  in  an  economic,  a  political, 
or  a  moral  way.  /Last  year  I  traveled  from  one 


end  of  California  to  the  other  and  visited  every 
Japanese  settlement  of  consequence.  There  I 
found  that  the  Japanese  agriculturists  were  peace 
ful,  law-abiding,  industrious  people,  generally  very 
poor,  and,  like  thousands  of  other  new-comers 
to  this  country,  living  with  rigid  economy.  One 
may  find  Portuguese,  Greeks,  and  Armenians  in 
California  living  just  as  poorly.  The  Japanese 
laborers  prosper  because  they  work  hard  and  spend 


The  Pacific  Coast  Peril 


little.     Many  of  them  do  not  speak  English  and 
are  ignorant  of  our  customs,  manners,  and  laws. 

Americans,  especially  thriftless  ones,  do  not 
like  Japanese  for  neighbors,  and  among  those  who 
have  come  to  our  country  there  are,  of  course,  some 
who  are  dishonest,  some  who  violate  contracts,  some 
who  do  not  keep  their  word.  These  shortcomings 
are  not  peculiar  to  the  Japanese,  however,  for  I 
can  say,  from  personal  experience  in  California, 
that  I  have  discovered  similar  weaknesses  on  the 
part  of  rather  prosperous  immigrants  from  the 

F' "  of  Europe, 
the  Pacific  Coast  there  has  been  an  active 
propaganda  of  hate  carried  on  against  the  Japan 
ese.  It  has  certain  professional  labor  leaders,  the 
barnacles  and  bane  of  organized  labor,  together 
with  certain  opportunist  politicians,  behind  it. 
It  is  easy  to  play  on  the  strings  of  national  feel 
ing  and  prejudice.  Hundreds  of  good  citizens 
of  California  believe,  because  they  have  heard 
the  statement  made  over  and  over  again,  that 
the  Japanese  are  growing  to  be  a  dangerous  ele 
ment  in  the  population,  and  that  American  insti 
tutions,  liberties,  morals,  and  business  are  gravely 
menaced  by  their  presence  .//A  professional  labor 
leader  in  California  recently  said : 


"We  are  not  really  much  concerned  about  the  Jap 
anese.  They  are  not,  after  all,  numerous  enough  to 
alarm  us;  but  as  the  agitation  against  them  has 
started  and  is  well  underway  we  stimulate  it  in  order 


24  America  to  Japan 

to  bring  about  the  larger  things  we  are  after — that  is, 
the  total  exclusion  of  all  Orientals  from  this  country." 

Among  my  personal  acquaintances  I  find  some 
who  do  not  like  the  Japanese,  and  others,  the 
majority,  who  are  very  friendly  toward  them.  The 
line  of  division  between  these  two  opposing  opin 
ions  in  California  is  plain:  on  one  side,  are  those 
who  do  not  know  the  Japanese  thoroughly  well; 
on  the  other  side,  those  who  know  and  understand 
them,  and  who,  moreover,  know  something/about 
Japan  and  the  Japanese  Government. //People 
who  think  well  of  the  Japanese  are,  as  a  rule,  those 
who  know  them  well.// 

The  Japanese  in  California  ask  only  to  be  let 
alone.  The  more  fortunate  men  of  the  Japanese 
race,  the  more  prosperous  and  enlightened,  have 
raised  a  considerable  sum  of  money  and  are  con 
ducting  in  an  intelligent  fashion  an  educational 
campaign  the  purpose  of  which  is  to  instruct  the 
ignorant  Japanese  working  man  in  American  ideas, 
manners,  and  ways  of  living,  so  that  misunderstand 
ings,  the  most  frequent  cause  of  conflict  between 
races,  may  be  removed.  The  educated  Japanese 
in  California,  and  there  are  many  of  them,  are 
making  great  and  constant  efforts  to  improve  the 
less  fortunate  of  their  fellow  countrymen  and  to 
convert  them  into  thoroughly  desirable  residents. 
The  Japanese  have  done  a  great  work  in  this  direc 
tion.  Indeed,  they  have  done  more  than  their 
share  in  the  effort  to  live  comfortably  and  pleas- 


The  Pacific  Coast  Peril  25 

antly  with  the  other  people  of  California.//  //  the 
Japanese  were  let  alone,  or  were  given  the  ballot 
and  citizenship,  the  whole  question  would  disap 
pear,  j  If  the  Japanese  had  the  right  to  vote  in 
California  there  would  no  longer  be  a  Japanese 
question,  as  it  is  now  understood.  The  politicians 
would  not  only  cease  to  harry  them,  but  would  in 
deed  strive  to  curry,  favor  jsvith  them. 

We  are  dealing  with  the  Japanese  as  they  are 
to-day.  There  is  no  question  of  unrestricted  or 
unlimited  immigration,  consequently  no  present 
danger  of  an  Oriental  invasion. 

After  a  careful  personal  survey  of  the  situation 
I  think  one  is  justified  in  contending  that  decency 
and  fair  dealing  and  regard  for  justice  and  inter 
national  good  faith  require  that  we  should  give 
the  Japanese  in  this  country  the  same  treatment 
we  give  to  other  immigrants  and  the  same  treat 
ment  we  expect  the  Japanese  Government  to 
accord  our  citizens  who  may  wish  to  settle  in 
Japan,  irritating  and  humiliating  discriminations 
toward  the  Japanese  should  cease.  Let  us  deal 
honestly  with  the  question.  The  Japanese  are 
not  going  to  overturn  California,  nor  are  they 
going  to  acquire  a  considerable  portion  of  the  land, 
nor  are  they  going  to  get  an  undue  share  of  busi 
ness.  To  the  fruits  of  their  industry,  patience, 
self-denial,  and  frugality  they  are  entitled. 

Let  us  ask  our  Western  friends  to  admit  all  this 
in  reference  to  the  Japanese  and  at  the  same  time 
try  to  understand  and  value  their  good  qualities 


26  America  to  Japan 

instead  of  forever  complaining  about  their  bad 
ones,  which  are  not,  by  the  way,  exclusively  Japan 
ese  at  all.  In  the  matter  of  immorality,  commer 
cial  dishonesty,  and  general  bad  conduct  our  own 
countrymen  should  not  be  the  first  to  cast  a  stone. 
The  assailants  of  the  Japanese  in  this  country 
talk  as  if  these  people  from  the  Orient  were  the 
sole  possessors  of  all  the  unworthy  tendencies, 
instincts,  and  habits  in  the  United  States.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  they  are  no  better  or  worse  than 
people  of  the  same  class  in  most  other  countries, 
and  it  may  be  said  of  them  truthfully  that  they 
are  not  given  to  the  gentle  art  of  dynamiting,  as 
are  some  of  the  persons  who  attack  them  most 
fiercely  in  the  west. 

The  Japanese  question  on  the  Pacific  Coast 
has  settled  itself  if  the  immigration  remains  strictly 
limited  as  it  now  is,  and  if  our  own  people  will  give 
no  further  attention  to  it  unless  they  have  some 
urgent  and  important  reason  for  so  doing.  The 
Japanese  are  few  in  number.  They  attend  to 
their  own  affairs  and  want  only  to  be  let  alone. 
If  they  are  let  alone  for  a  few  years,  it  will  be  for 
gotten  that  they  were  ever  considered  a  problem. 
If  they  are  to  be  threatened  and  made  the  victims 
of  political  parties  and  have  to  face  continually 
the  fear  of  unfair  and  humiliating  legislation,  then 
difficulties  may  arise  which  will  not  be  merely 
local  in  character.  A  state  of  feeling  may  be 
engendered  in  Japan  which  the  Government  of 
that  country  cannot  cope  with,  and  which  may 


The  Pacific  Coast  Peril  27 

develop  into  a  situation  of  grave  menace  for  this 
whole  nation. 

//The  peril  of  the  situation  on  the  Pacific  Coast 
-lies  not  in  the  fact  that  there  are  some  thousands 
of  well  disposed  Japanese  trying  to  live  there 
lawfully  and  in  peace,  but  in  the  disposition  of 
selfishly  interested  persons  of  other  races  to  incite 
racial  and  economic  prejudice  against  the  Japanese. /J 


THE  GOLDEN  RULE 

BY  WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BRYAN 

THE  unity  of  the  race  is  proven  by  the  fact  that 
the  Creator  has  made  one  law  for  all.  The  same 
rules  that  insure  the  advancement  of  the  people 
in  one  country  guarantee  progress  everywhere  and, 
fortunately,  these  rules  are -few  in  number  and 
easily  learned.  Each  human  being,  no  matter 
under  what  government  he  lives,  no  matter  what 
language  he  speaks,  and  no  matter  through  what 
religious  forms  his  heart  communes  with  God,  is 
a  trinity  within  himself — three  lives  in  one.  He 
has  a  body,  a  mind,  and  a  soul.  The  body  requires 
food,  exercise,  and  care — and  in  these  respects 
all  bodies  are  alike.  The  mind  has  its  faculties 
and  these  must  be  trained.  If  the  educational 
methods  at  present  employed  differ  in  different 
countries,  it  is  due,  not  to  necessity  nor  to  de 
liberate  choice,  but  rather  to  the  fact  that  there 
has  not  yet  been  sufficient  opportunity  for  experi 
ment  and  comparison. 

So,  in  the  development  of  the  heart  and  the 
formation  of  character.  We  are  not  permitted 
to  select  one  of  several  ways,  for  there  is  but  one 

28 


The  Golden  Rule  29 

true  way,  the  narrow  way  by  which  we  approach 
individual  perfection,  guided  by  an  ideal  which  is 
so  high  that  we  cannot  hope  to  fully  attain  to  it. 
Love  is  the  light  which  illumines  this  way;  self- 
restraint  is  the  evidence  that  we  walk  therein, 
and  a  universal  brotherhood  is  the  end  toward 
which  we  aim. 

If  it  be  true,  as  I  confidently  affirm,  that  there 
is  in  man  this  uniformity  that  makes  all  kin,  then 
it  follows  that  we  are  acquainted  with  others 
when  we  know  ourselves  and  can,  by  consulting 
our  own  controlling  impulses,  learn  how  others 
feel. 

Because  of  this  similarity  in  things  fundamental, 
our  hearts  respond  to  the  Golden  Rule:  "Do  unto 
others  as  you  would  have  others  do  unto  you"  of 
the  universal  application  in  our  dealings  with 
our  fellows;  and,  since  nations  are  but  groups  of 
individuals,  this  golden  rule  should  govern  inter 
course  between  countries  as  well  as  association 
between  individuals. 

International  problems  will  be  easy  of  solution 
in  proportion  as  we  recognize  that  moral  principles 
cannot  be  limited  in  their  operation — that  the 
commandments- — "Thou  shalt  not  covet'* — 
''Thou  shalt  not  steal"— "Thou  shalt  not  kill," 
apply  to  nations  as  well  as  to  single  citizens. 

I  am  sure  that  the  people  of  the  United  States 
and  the  people  of  Japan  wish  each  other  well, 
and  they  can  contribute  to  international  amity  by 
using  their  utmost  endeavor  to  make  the  conduct 


30  America  to  Japan 

of  their  respective  nation  conform  to  the  sense  of 
justice  which  the  Heavenly  Father  has  implanted 
in  the  hearts  of  all — the  sense  of  justice  upon  which 
all  human  institutions  must  finally  rest. 


AMERICA  AND  RACE  PROBLEMS 

BY  THE  REV.  C.  F.  AKED,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

WE  have  more  than  one  race  problem  upon  our 
hands,  and  Japan  ought  to  sympathize  with  us. 
We  have  not  yet  shown  ourselves  able  to  cope 
successfully  with  the  race  issues  already  presented 
to  us.  We  have  the  Negro  question.  The  curse 
of  slavery  is  not  wholly  blotted  out.  Some 
effects  remain.  In  the  providence  of  God  it  has 
been  ordained  that  no  man  can  put  a  chain  round 
his  brother's  ankle  without  finding  sooner  or  later 
the  other  end  of  the  chain  round  his  own  neck. 
Negro  slavery  was  not  originally  sought  by  the 
American  people.  It  was  forced  upon  the  South 
land.  Later  the  South  acquiesced  in  its  existence 
and  sought  to  maintain  it.  South  and  North 
have  made,  are  making,  will  continue  to  make, 
heroic  and  splendid  efforts  to  meet  in  a  spirit  of 
righteousness  all  the  difficulties  which  the  past 
has  handed  down  to  the  present.  But  there  it  is; 
the  adjustment  is  not  yet  made.  There  are  prob 
lems  to  solve ;  there  are  questions  to  answer ;  there 
are  difficulties  to  be  met;  there  are  wrongs  to  put 
right.  And  we  may  be  forgiven  if  we  say  that 

31 


32  America  to  Japan 

we  do  not  want  another  race  question  thrust 
upon  us.  I  am  not  suggesting  that  there  is  no 
difference  between  Africans  brought  here  as  slaves 
and  Asiatics  coming  here  as  free  immigrants. 
There  is  a  difference.  But  the  fact  remains  that 
the  one  constitutes  for  us  a  difficulty  great  enough. 
We  do  not  want  another. 

Yet  we  have  another.  We  have  many  others. 
There  are  masses  of  unassimilated  foreigners 
amongst  us,  and  these,  unless  we  are  both  wise 
and  lucky,  may  lower  the  standard  of  American 
living. 

Streams  of  immigrant  blood  have  brought  health 
and  wealth  to  the  American  body  politic.  Streams 
of  immigrant  blood  have  brought  disease  and 
poverty  as  well.  Immigration  is  both  an  asset 
and  a  menace.  All  the  world  knows  with  what 
incredible  success  America  does  receive  the  mil 
lions  from  the  Old  World,  how  she  makes  Americans 
of  them,  and  how  they  become  a  part  of — an  in 
tegral  and  infinitely  valuable  part  of— the  Ameri 
can  stock.  Yet  we  in  America  know  that  the 
success  is  not  complete.  The  task  is  so  gigantic 
that  it  may  strain  all  American  resources  of  nerve 
and  brain,  American  institutions,  and  the  American 
love  of  liberty.  Put  it  at  the  best,  assuring  our 
selves  as  we  well  may  that  America  is  not  going 
to  fail  in  this  task  of  assimilating  the  millions 
from  the  Old  World,  it  is  at  least  clear  that  Amer 
ica  has  just  about  as  much  as  she  can  do.  It  is 
admitted  that  the  task  which  we  have  already  set 


America  and  Race  Problems        33 

ourselves  is  gigantic ;  it  is  not  for  the  good  of  the 
human  race  that  we  should  deliberately  make  it 
impossible ;  that  American  institutions  and  Ameri 
can  civilization  should  be  overwhelmed  and 
destroyed.  With  this  view,  I  repeat,  Japan  must 
sympathize.  What  is  called  the  Gentlemen's 
Agreement  of  1907,  by  which  Japan  undertakes 
to  prohibit  the  emigration  of  laborers  from  her 
country  to  American  shores,  is  her  pledge  of 
sensible  and  friendly  understanding. 

It  is  probable  that  the  time  has  come  for  the 
United  States  to  take  a  wide  view,  comprehensive, 
statesmanlike,  a  new  view  of  all  these  questions 
of  immigration  and  of  all  questions  of  policy  re 
lated  to  immigration,  actual  or  possible.  It  is 
probable  that  the  time  has  come  when  America 
might  substitute  a  world-view  and  an  American 
policy  for  local  and  temporary  expedients.  It 
should  not  be  impossible  to  meet  every  difficulty 
with  a  policy  satisfactory  to  the  best  mind  of 
America,  from  the  mind  represented  by  the  labor 
union  to  that  represented  by  the  patriot  and  the 
cosmopolitan  with  world- wide,  universal  sym 
pathies.  And  this  policy — whatever  else  it  may 
do  or  fail  to  do — while  safeguarding  the  people  of 
the  United  States  from  the  added  difficulties  of 
another  "race  question,"  should  without  doubt 
lift  the  ban  of  discrimination  which  now  affronts 
the  Japanese,  offer  to  them  the  rights  and  privi 
leges  which  it  offers  to  the  people  of  other  nations, 
and  impose  no  restrictions  which  it  does  not 

3 


34  America  to  Japan 

impose  upon  the  people  of  Great  Britain  or  Ger 
many,  of  Italy  or  Russia. 

Meanwhile  let  this  be  our  loyal  and  loving 
message  to  Japan : 

We  recognize  your  splendid  ability,  your  mar 
velous  and  mighty  achievements.  Your  valor 
proved  on  land  and  sea  attests  a  race  of  heroes. 
Your  victories  in  the  arts  of  civilization,  in  litera 
ture,  in  commerce,  in  the  pursuits  of  peace,  reveal 
your  genius. 

We  condemn  insolent  assertions  of  race  superi 
ority.  We  refuse  to  discuss  questions  of  superi 
ority  and  inferiority,  of  higher  and  lower.  God 
has  made  of  one  blood  every  nation  to  dwell  on 
all  the  face  of  the  earth.  You  with  us  are  the 
Father's  children. 

We  recognize  your  mission  as  harmonizer  of 
East  and  West.  You  have  to  interpret  the  one  to 
the  other.  We  have  taken  our  law  from  Rome, 
our  art  from  Greece,  our  religion  from  the  Jew. 
The  English  have  been  the  colonizers.  God  has 
called  America  to  teach  liberty  to  mankind.  And 
it  may  be  that  our  Father  in  heaven  has  called 
Japan  to  harmonize  eastern  and  western  civiliza 
tion  to  the  end  of  the  unification  of  the  world. 

We  sincerely  desire  your  friendship.  Our  pro 
fessions  are  not  mere  words.  We  accept  your 
professions  of  friendship  at  their  face  value.  We 
believe  you  mean  what  you  say.  We  mean  what 
we  say.  We  wish  to  live  in  amity  with  you.  We 
wish  to  strive  with  you  only  in  the  healthy  rival- 


America  and  Race  Problems        35 

ries  of  peace  and  to  be  friends  with  you  on  land 
and  sea. 

We  condemn  the  insulting  policies  of  short 
sighted  and  selfish  politicians  amongst  us.  We 
have  ourselves  no  part  in  them.  We  believe  that 
they  are  mistaken  where  they  are  not  vicious  and 
vicious  where  they  are  not  mistaken. 

We  declare  that  it  is  our  intention  to  oppose 
these  policies  everywhere,  and  to  do  all  that  lies 
in  our  power  to  defeat  them.  We  have  good 
reason  at  the  present  moment  for  believing  that 
in  California  a  check  has  been  placed  upon  these 
sinister  movements  and  that  you  are  likely  to 
hear  less  of  them  in  the  coming  days.  We  have 
reason  for  saying  that  a  better  spirit  is  obtaining 
and  wiser  counsel  prevailing. 

And  we  publicly  pledge  ourselves,  now  and  in 
the  coming  years,  to  seek  to  influence  our  fellow 
citizens,  the  men  and  women  of  the  United  States, 
to  the  end  that  all  racial  antagonism  shall  be 
done  away,  and  that  America  at  least  shall  live 
as  befits  a  people  who  proclaim  the  Fatherhood 
of  God  and  the  Brotherhood  of  Man. 


JAPAN'S   LITERARY   RELATIONS  WITH 
THE  UNITED  STATES 

BY  GEORGE  HAVEN  PUTNAM 

SINCE  the  beginning  of  its  relations  with  the 
outside  world,  that  is  to  say,  from  the  time  when 
were  put  into  force  the  treaties  which  resulted 
from  the  Perry  Expedition  of  1853,  the  authorities 
of  Japan  have  interested  themselves  consistently 
in  developing  the  educational  and  literary  relations 
of  the  Empire  with  the  States  of  Europe  and  with 
the  United  States  of  America.  The  purpose  of  the 
Government  appears  to  have  been  twofold:  the 
securing  for  the  education  of  the  citizens  of  Japan 
such  counsel,  suggestions,  and  material  as  were 
available  from  the  experience  of  other  nations; 
and  the  strengthening  of  the  international  rela 
tions  of  the  Empire  through  the  full  acceptance  by 
Japan  of  the  principles  and  the  practices  of  the 
highest  international  comity. 

As  far  back  as  1867,  the  Tycoon,  at  that  time  in 
charge  of  the  Government  of  the  Empire,  decided, 
under  the  counsel  of  Arinori  Mori,  Ambassador  in 
Washington,  and  of  the  Minister  of  Education,  Ono 
Tomogoro,  to  reorganize  the  system  of  instruction 

36 


Literary  Relations  37 

in  the  high  schools  and  common  schools  of  the 
Empire.  It  was  the  aim  to  secure  for  the  growing 
generation  of  Japan  an  education  that  should  be 
on  a  par  with  that  of  the  other  nations  of  the 
civilized  world.  During  the  ten  years  preceding 
1867,  a  series  of  educational  experiments  had  been 
carried  on  in  a  practical  way.  Groups  of  high-class 
pupils,  selected  partly  on  the  ground  of  their  noble 
families,  but  in  the  end,  as  I  understand,  by  com 
petitive  examinations,  were  sent  to  carry  on  their 
studies  in  the  educational  centres  of  the  several 
nations  with  which  Japan  had  come  into  relations. 
During  this  decade,  Japanese  students  were 
working  in  Leyden,  in  Berlin,  in  Paris,  and  in 
several  of  the  university  towns  of  the  United 
States.  They  had  gone  accredited  to  leading  edu 
cators  with  whom  the  Japanese  Authorities  had 
come  into  correspondence.  They  were  charged 
with  the  task  not  only  of  mastering  the  language  of 
the  countries  chosen  for  their  education,  but  also 
of  carrying  on  in  the  foreign  language  the  studies 
which  had  been  selected  as  the  most  effective  for 
the  desired  test.  As  these  pupils  returned  to 
Tokio,  they  were  instructed  to  bring  with  them 
specimens  of  the  text-books  that  they  had  been 
utilizing  in  their  higher-grade  work,  and  selections 
also  from  those  that  were  in  use  in  the  high  schools 
and  the  common  schools.  A  careful  investigation 
was  made  as  to  the  difficulties  with  which  capable 
Japanese  students  had  to  contend  in  mastering 
the  several  languages  and  in  coming  to  an  under- 


38  America  to  Japan 

standing  of  the  text-books  of  these  different 
countries.  Some  experiments  were  also  made  in 
the  work  of  producing  Japanese  versions  of  Ger 
man,  French,  English,  and  Dutch  text-books.  It 
was  finally  decided  that  it  would  be  easier  for  the 
educational  work  required  to  utilize  for  text-book 
purposes  a  foreign  language  rather  than  to  attempt 
to  secure  Japanese  versions  of  books  containing  a 
long  series  of  terms  for  which  there  were  no  accu 
rate  Japanese  equivalents.  It  was  further  decided, 
after  a  very  careful  comparison  of  the  different 
national  series  of  text-books,  and  also  of  the 
experiences  of  the  several  groups  of  students,  that 
the  English  language  was  better  suited  for  the 
requirements  than  the  French,  German,  or  Dutch. 
The  Dutch  language  was,  by  the  way,  the  first 
European  tongue  with  which  the  Japanese  had 
become  acquainted.  The  final  comparison  was 
made  between  English  and  American  text-books, 
with  the  result  that  the  preference  was  given 
to  the  schoolbooks  produced  in  the  United 
States. 

The  Minister  of  Public  Education,  Ono  Tomo- 
goro,  with  a  staff  of  assistants,  came  in  1867  to  the 
United  States  for  the  purpose  of  selecting  a  series 
of  American  text-books  for  the  Japanese  schools, 
and  at  the  same  time  of  familiarizing  himself  with 
the  American  educational  methods.  He  brought 
letters  of  introduction  from  the  Tycoon's  Minister 
of  State  to  President  Johnson  and  to  Mr.  Seward, 
at  that  time  Secretary  of  State.  He  also  naturally 


Literary  Relations  39 

took  counsel  with  the  Japanese  Minister  at  Wash 
ington,  Arinori  Mori,  a  scholarly  and  wide-minded 
statesman.  Mori  had  become  known  to  my  father 
through  Mr.  Seward  and  had  had  occasion  to  ask 
some  service  of  my  father  in  connection  with  the 
printing  of  a  memorial  or  monograph  which  Mori 
had  prepared  on  the  subject  of  Religious  Tolera 
tion.  In  this  monograph,  the  Japanese  scholar 
took  the  highest  possible  ground  in  behalf  of 
freedom  of  religious  belief,  and  contended  that  the 
only  responsibility  that  rested  upon  the  national 
Government  was  to  secure  and  to  protect  all 
groups  of  its  citizens  in  the  exercise  of  such  freedom. 
The  paper  had  been  prepared  to  influence  public 
opinion  in  Japan  and  was  in  fact  submitted  as  a 
memorial  to  the  Tycoon's  Government.  It  was, 
therefore,  originally  written  in  Japanese,  but  the 
version  submitted  to  my  father  was  in  English. 
The  English  was  not  merely  good  but  eloquent, 
while  the  memorial  itself  gave  evidence  of  a  very 
full  knowledge  of  the  history  of  religious  belief  and 
of  an  exceptionally  clear  understanding  of  the  great 
issues  in  the  world's  history  around  which  have 
been  fought  the  questions  of  religious  toleration. 
Mori's  career  was,  unfortunately,  cut  short  at  too 
early  a  period  to  enable  him  to  render  to  his  coun 
try  full  service  of  his  exceptional  abilities  and  of  his 
high  standard  of  public  spirit.  A  few  years  after 
his  return  to  Japan,  he  was  assassinated  while 
leaving  one  of  the  temples  by  a  fanatic  who  had 
convinced  himself  that  Mori  was  a  heretic,  and 


4°  America  to  Japan 

that  his  influence  was  adverse  to  the  maintenance 
of  the  old  faith. 

My  father's  personal  relations  with  the  Japanese 
Ambassador  and  his  old-time  friendship  with  Mr. 
Seward,  caused  him  to  be  recommended  to  Tomo- 
goro  as  the  best  man  to  give  advice  in  the  matter 
of  the  formation  of  the  text-book  system,  and  in 
the  selection  of  the  books  themselves.  Ono  Tomo- 
goro  called  frequently  at  the  office,  and  I  had  the 
opportunity  of  studying  his  shrewd  and  humorous 
personality. 

I  remember  particularly  one  remark  made  by  the 
Minister,  which,  while  uttered  in  perfectly  good 
faith,  proved,  unfortunately,  not  to  be  well 
founded : 


You  will  understand,  Mr.  Putnam,  that  in  your 
relations  with  the  Japanese  Government,  you  will  be 
dealing  with  a  stable  and  permanent  client.  If  these 
preliminary  transactions  prove  satisfactory,  and  from 
the  reports  of  your  Secretary  of  State  and  of  my  friend 
Mr.  Mori,  I  have  very  full  confidence  on  this  point, 
the  business  will  continue  in  your  hands  and  in  those 
of  your  equally  worthy  successors,  for  an  indefinite 
period  of  years.  ...  I  have  been  a  student  of 
history.  I  find  that  not  only  in  Europe  but  in  your 
own  country  there  have  occurred  from  time  to  time 
series  of  wars  and  disturbances  through  which  govern 
ments  are  overthrown  and  national  policies  are  revolu 
tionized.  In  Japan,  also,  we  have  changes;  my  present 
mission  is  in  fact  itself  an  instance  of  a  very  note 
worthy  change  in  our  national  policy.  But  we  pro- 


Literary  Relations  41 

ceed  in  what  may  be  called  an  evolutionary  fashion. 
Our  Government  is  permanently  organized  and  retains 
in  its  own  hands  the  direction  of  the  affairs  of  the 
Empire.  .  .  .  There  has  been  no  fighting  within  the 
territory  of  Japan  for  a  term  of  three  centuries;  and 
you  can,  therefore,  have  full  confidence  in  the  per 
manence  of  your  business  relations  with  this  particular 
client. 

This  address,  which  was  in  substance,  if  not  in 
the  exact  words,  as  above  quoted,  was  set  forth 
sentence  by  sentence  by  the  interpreter.  The 
Minister  veiled  himself  behind  an  assumed  ignor 
ance  of  the  English  language,  but  we  found  after 
wards  that  he  understood  perfectly  all  that  was 
going  on,  and  he  was  probably  as  well  able  to 
speak  as  to  understand. 

My  father  and  myself  put  into  shape  a  scheme 
for  the  text-books,  which  was  duly  approved,  and 
we  then,  under  instructions,  secured  the  first  sup 
plies  to  the  amount  of  some  £5,000  sterling.  We 
were  instructed  to  send  a  representative  of  the 
House  to  Japan  to  receive  from  the  authorities 
that  would  be  constituted  for  the  purpose  the 
continuing  orders,  orders  which,  if  the  com 
missioner's  calculations  were  to  be  depended 
upon,  were  going  to  amount  annually  to  a  million 
dollars  or  more.  A  few  weeks  after  the  depar 
ture  of  Tomogoro  and  the  shipment  of  books,  my 
brother  was  sent  to  Japan  to  take  charge  of  this 
educational  business.  Before  he  had  arrived, 
however,  the  conflicts  which  brought  to  a  close 


42  America  to  Japan 

the  Imperial  power  of  the  Tycoon  had  already 
broken  out,  and  he  was  obliged  to  return  without 
even  being  able  to  find  any  of  the  officials  to  whom 
his  letters  were  addressed.  After  the  close  of  the 
revolution,  the  Mikado  assumed  the  direct  control 
of  the  Empire,  and  a  new  system  was  adopted  for 
the  Japanese  schools.  While  American  books 
were  adopted  for  higher  scientific  work  and  for 
college  classes,  the  idea  of  utilizing  American  text 
books  for  the  common  schools  was  given  up. 

During  the  two  years  of  the  contest  between  the 
troops  of  the  Mikado  and  those  of  the  Tycoon,  we 
continued  in  business  relations  with  certain  of 
the  Daimios.  I  remember  the  curious  combina 
tion  of  the  orders  that  came  to  us  during  this 
period  from  Prince  Satsuma.  The  schools  in  his 
principality  were  evidently  being  continued,  as  our 
orders  included  a  number  of  higher-grade  text 
books,  such  as  Watts  on  the  Mind  and  Paley's 
Moral  Philosophy.  The  same  shipments  that 
included  these  works  of  ethical  instruction  carried 
one  hundred  copies  of  Artillery  Practice,  fifty 
copies  of  Bridge  Building,  two  hundred  copies  of 
Infantry  Drill,  and  other  manuals  having  to  do 
with  the  art  of  war.  It  was  interesting  to  note 
that  even  in  this  time  of  active  warfare,  the  citi 
zens  in  Satsuma's  principality  were  not  willing  to 
have  the  education  of  their  young  people  delayed. 
This  business  with  Satsuma  came  to  a  close  after 
he  had  himself  accepted  the  authority  of  the 
Mikado. 


Literary  Relations  43 

For  a  series  of  years  after  the  establishment  of 
the  government  of  the  Mikado,  the  printer-pub 
lishers  of  Japan  carried  on  a  satisfactory  business 
in  reprinting  the  American  and  European  books 
that  had  been  found  suitable  for  the  educational 
requirements,  and  the  larger  portion  of  these  text 
books  and  works  of  reference  so  appropriated 
originated  in  the  United  States.  The  shrewd 
Japanese  left  to  the  American  publishers  the  initia 
tive  and  the  labor  of  securing  the  introduction  of 
the  books,  a  work  that  involved,  of  necessity, 
considerable  outlay  in  sending  skilled  educational 
travelers  to  Japan  and  in  the  distribution  of 
specimen  copies.  When  the  introductions  had 
been  secured  and  a  current  demand  for  the  books 
had  been  established,  the  Japanese  printers  were 
in  a  position,  largely  through  the  use  of  photo 
graphic  processes,  to  reproduce  their  reprints  at 
a  price  very  much  lower  than  that  which  it  was 
necessary  to  charge  for  the  American  editions. 
The  risk  of  appropriation  of  Japanese  literature, 
either  in  Europe  or  in  the  United  States,  was,  of 
course,  inconsiderable,  and  Japan  had,  therefore, 
good  business  grounds  for  remaining  outside  of  the 
Copyright  Convention.  The  high  standard  of 
international  action  which  has  always  charac 
terized  the  Government  of  Japan,  and  the  desire  to 
be  fully  accepted  into  the  comity  of  nations, 
decided  the  Japanese  Government,  however,  in 
1899  to  secure  membership  in  the  Convention  of 
Berne.  In  1906,  the  Government  took  the  further 


44  America  to  Japan 

step  of  entering  into  a  copyright  treaty  with  the 
United  States.  The  Japanese  publishers  were, 
therefore,  called  upon  to  sacrifice  for  the  sake  of 
the  ideals  and  the  dignity  of  the  nation  a  business 
that  had  been  for  them  decidedly  advantageous. 
It  is  probable  that  no  one  of  the  nations  which, 
under  the  higher  standard  of  international  rela 
tions  of  the  last  half  century,  has  been  prepared  to 
enter  into  international  copyright  treaties,  had  in 
so  doing  resigned  so  substantial  a  business  advant 
age  as  that  which  had  been  sacrificed  by  the 
printers  of  Japan.  We  may  confidently  hope  that 
the  larger  interchange  of  ideas  and  of  ideals  that 
will  be  brought  about  through  the  distribution  in 
Japan  of  Japanese  editions  of  American  books,  and 
later,  as  we  may  hope,  through  a  wider  knowledge 
on  the  part  of  American  citizens  of  the  literature  of 
Japan,  must  serve  to  bring  about  a  clearer  under 
standing  on  the  part  of  each  people  of  the  ideals, 
the  principles,  and  the  aims  of  the  other,  and  to 
assure  a  continuing  friendship  between  Japan  and 
the  United  States. 


COMMON  SENSE  CALLED  FOR 

BY  DON   C.    SEITZ 

Author,  Surface  Japan 

IT  does  not  follow  that  America  harbors  any  ill 
will  toward  Japan  because  of  local  conditions  on 
the  Pacific  Coast,  any  more  than  it  might  have 
been  argued  that  Japan  was  an  enemy  of  America 
in  the  sixties  because  the  Lord  of  Shimonoseki 
provoked  hostilities  against  foreigners,  involving 
the  interests  of  the  United  States.  Nor  is  the 
worthy,  if  expensive,  desire  of  Japan  to  become 
a  more  important  world  power  regarded  as  a 
menace  by  our  citizens.  The  real  cause  of  all 
friction  comes  from  the  adjustment  of  the  rela 
tions  of  many  adventurous  people,  who,  seek 
ing  to  better  their  conditions,  have  made  what 
we  call  the  United  States.  These  are  drawn 
from  all  the  nations  in  the  world,  many  of  them 
antagonistic  in  their  former  homes,  and  requir 
ing  a  long  process  of  refining  in  the  melting 
pot  before  they  fuse  together  in  smooth  homo 
geneity.  The  Japanese,  of  one  nation  and  spirit, 
are  apt  to  look  down  upon  this  conglomeration  of 
peoples,  many  of  them  in  their  beginnings  greatly 

45 


46  America  to  Japan 

inferior  to  the  Japanese  in  culture,  intelligence, 
and  pride. 

The  first  white  men  on  the  Western  continent 
were  English  fleeing  from  the  tyranny  and  low 
moral  conditions  under  the  Stuart  regime. 
These  were  strange,  stern-minded  people,  the 
hard  temper  of  whom  was  softened  but  little  by  a 
stay  in  Holland.  They  were  severe  toward  the 
Indian  aborigines  who  treated  them  kindly  when 
they  came.  But  the  intense  religious  feeling  and 
the  gloom  of  New  England  winters  combined  to 
make  the  Puritans  anything  but  a  pleasant  people. 
They  persecuted  the  kindly  Quakers  and  sternly 
repressed  any  effort  to  make  life  lighter  or  brighter. 

It  was  left  to  the  Dutch,  in  New  York,  and  to 
the  agents  of  William  Penn,  in  Pennsylvania,  to 
really  open  the  doors  of  the  Western  world,  though 
the  intellectual  impress  of  the  fine  but  narrow 
English  mind  was  destined  to  make  itself  felt  on 
the  newcomers. 

The  first  people  to  follow  the  English  in  numbers 
were  the  Germans  of  the  Rhine  country,  called 
the  Palatines,  ruthlessly  trampled  under  during 
the  Wars  of  the  Spanish  Succession  and  before  that 
in  the  center  of  the  cruel  religious  conflicts  that 
followed  the  Reformation.  They  came  as  poor 
laborers  and  were  harshly  treated  by  the  English 
landholders  in  New  York,  being  driven  from  their 
possessions  or  compelled  to  pay  twice  for  them, 
with  the  result  that  they  sought  refuge  on  the 
lands  of  William  Penn. 


Common  Sense  Called  For         47 

There  was  great  prejudice  against  these  people, 
but  they  felled  the  forests  and  created  the  farms 
in  the  country  between  the  Hudson  and  the 
Mississippi,  north  of  the  slave  belt,  and  stand 
second  to  the  English  in  the  numbers  contributed 
to  the  population  of  the  great  Republic. 

The  wrongs  of  Ireland  and  the  famine  years  in 
that  country  sent  a  great  migration  to  America. 
They  came  as  the  railways  were  being  created, 
and  for  forty  years  the  Irish  did  the  heavy  work 
of  the  land.  They  built  the  railroads  and  the 
cities.  They  were  needed,  but  their  coming  was 
resented,  and  as  a  people  they  were  hated  far 
more  than  any  Japanese  have  been  to  date.  A 
political  party,  the  "Know-Nothings'7  sprang  into 
being  to  oppose  immigration  and  there  was  long 
turmoil.  The  Irish  grew  strong  in  the  cities, 
evinced  a  natural  taste  for  politics,  which  their 
numbers  turned  into  success. 

The  fact  that  they  were  Catholics  had  much  to 
do  with  the  dislike,  which  still  prevails.  Thou 
sands  of  Americans  distrust  and  dislike  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  forgetting  that  its  solidarity 
is  due  mainly  to  the  hostility  of  the  Protestant 
denominations  who  still  fear  the  Pope  of  Rome! 
If  they  were  accepted  as  equals,  socially  and 
piously  by  the  Protestants,  it  would  be  much  more 
difficult  to  preserve  the  strength  of  the  Catholic 
Church  in  North  America. 

But  as  the  country  grew,  the  Irish  bettered 
themselves,  and  another  source  had  to  be  found  for 


48  America  to  Japan 

the  rough  workers.  So  the  Italians  came.  They 
have  been  slower  at  attaining  influence  because  of 
the  difference  in  tongue  and  the  "Padrone"  sys 
tem  which  controls  the  individual  and  holds 
him  back.  But  the  hostility  to  the  Italians  is 
visible  in  many  ways.  They  are  forced  to  live  in 
colonies,  in  the  worst  sections.  If  they  buy  land, 
it  is  usually  wet,  rocky,  and  poor.  They  are  not 
wanted  as  neighbors.  When  they  come  in  "white 
folks"  go  out.  In  the  South,  where  "native" 
Americanism  is  strongest,  they  have  been  cruelly 
treated  at  times.  In  New  Orleans,  not  so  many 
years  ago,  many  were  massacred  in  prison,  because 
they  had  offended  against  law  and  order.  Where- 
ever  the  Italian  goes,  the  fear  of  the  stiletto  and 
the  bomb  of  the  blackmailing  "Black  Hand"  goes 
with  him.  Yet  the  Italians  are  a  great  people 
and  they,  too,  will  fit  into  the  American  cos 
mogony  when  they  have  done  their  turn  at  the 
wheel. 

Next  in  order  we  have  the  strangest  of  all 
phenomena,  the  coming  of  the  Jews.  Here  is  a 
race  of  people  without  an  abiding  place  they  can 
call  their  own.  The  wandering  Jew  is  no  myth. 
He  has  wandered  from  Jerusalem  to  Cathay,  seek 
ing  peace  and  finding  it  nowhere  except  in  Amer 
ica.  Of  all  peoples  the  most  disliked  because 
of  the  false  Judas,  these  have  met  with  less  resist 
ance  than  any  of  the  others,  largely  because  they 
have  created  rather  than  competed.  They  have 
developed  occupations  of  a  commercial  character 


Common  Sense  Called  For        49 

such  as  could  not  appeal  to  their  strong-armed 
predecessors.  They  are  tradesmen,  money 
changers,  manufacturers,  clothing  makers.  They 
do  not  get  in  the  way  of  jealous  workmen.  For 
this  reason  the  Jew  will  be  lost  in  the  melting  pot 
in  time.  His  women  attract,  and  with  the  bigotry 
and  repression  removed  the  Hebrew  strain  is  on  its 
way  to  join  the  others  in  making  that  first  of 
cosmopolites,  the  American. 

I  have  written  thus  at  length  to  show  my 
Japanese  friends  that  they  have  suffered  less  than 
other  aggressive  arrivals.  Their  pride  has  had 
no  more  affronts  than  that  of  the  German,  the 
Irish,  or  the  Italian.  A  haughty,  shut-in  race  for 
centuries,  they  have  come  out  into  the  world  to 
meet  with  a  singularly  kind  acclaim.  They  have 
been  appreciated  at  a  higher  value  than  any  of  the 
others  in  their  new  relations  to  mankind.  Impa 
tience,  that  full  and  equal  recognition  has  not  yet 
come  in  some  sections,  should  be  offset  by  the 
reception  accorded  them  in  others.  Ask  the  sev 
eral  thousand  Japanese  in  New  York  how  they  are 
regarded.  The  reply  will  interest  the  jingoes  of 
Japan.  The  debt  of  the  nation  to  America  is  oft 
quoted — but  loudest  by  Japanese.  I  never  heard 
an  American  express  the  view  that  Commodore 
Perry  did  anything  in  particular.  It  would  be 
hard  to  find  anyone  in  Brooklyn  who  ever  heard 
of  Townsend  Harris,  although  he  is  buried  there 
and  traveling  Japanese  make  pilgrimages  to  his 
tomb.  As  Mr.  Dooley,  our  sage  humorist  re- 

4 


50  America  to  Japan 

marked:  "Whin  we  rapped  on  the  dure,  we  didn't 
go  in,  they  kim  out!" 

They  did,  indeed,  come  out!  What,  may  I  ask, 
would  have  been  the  result  in  Japan  if  75,000 
Americans  had  suddenly  settled  down  on  Satsuma? 
How  "brotherly"  would  the  clansmen  have  been 
toward  such  an  invasion?  How  large  a  share 
would  they  have  been  given  in  the  management 
of  affairs?  What  then  is  the  real  grievance?  If 
it  be  pride,  then  what  becomes  of  the  boasted 
affection?  "It  is  a  small  love  that  shies  at  a  little 
pride"  reads  an  old  adage.  Is  it  because  land 
rights  are  disturbed?  This  affects  all  foreigners 
variously  in  different  States.  Is  it  because  the 
right  of  naturalization  is  denied?  There  were 
6,  646,817  white  foreign-born  males  of  voting  age  in 
the  United  States  in  1910.  Of  these  only  3,034,- 
1 1 7  were  naturalized,  or  but  45.6  per  cent.  Natur 
alization  does  not  seem,  therefore,  to  be  essential 
to  either  happiness  or  prosperity.  In  the  matter 
of  equal  rights  there  may  be  just  debate.  But 
people  must  first  get  used  to  each  other  before 
they  can  be  fully  accepted  in  any  community. 
The  Japanese  are  in  effect  our  newest  arrivals. 

That  so  many  have  won  esteem  and  position 
already  is  quite  remarkable  and  ought  to  soothe 
the  sensitive.  The  vast  mass  of  Americans  hold 
the  Japanese  in  high  honor.  Courage  and  address 
always  carry  credit.  The  superior  man,  as 
Confucius  would  say,  is  above  race  pride  and  race 
prejudice.  If  he  is  truly  superior  he  does  not 


Common  Sense  Called  For         51 

think  of  inferiors  at  all,  except  in  a  desire  to  aid 
them.  Much  of  the  Pacific  Coast  dislike  comes 
from  classes  that  are  actually  inferior  to  the 
Japanese.  They  are  disturbed  by  their  superior 
industry,  skill,  and  thrift.  Yet  these  are  resources 
with  which  the  Japanese  must  survive  and  by 
which  they  will  conquer  the  temporary  inimical 
conditions. 

To  conclude,  I  am  unable  to  find  that  there 
exists  a  just  grievance  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese 
in  America,  or  a  proper  cause  for  prejudice  on  the 
part  of  the  anti-Japanese  agitators.  So  the 
situation  will  adjust  itself  if  not  meddled  with 
too  much  by  politicians  and  demagogues  in  both 
nations.  As  Mr.  Gladstone  once  remarked  in 
the  crisis  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  over  the  Venezuelan  boundary  question, 
"Only  common  sense  is  necessary." 


OBSERVATIONS 

BY  HON.  THOMAS  J.  O'BRIEN 

Ex- Ambassador  to  Japan 

DURING  four  years—July  i ,  1907,  to  August,  1911 
— I  was  the  American  Ambassador  in  Japan.  The 
political  and  social  opportunities  afforded  by  such 
a  residence  were  naturally  great,  and  these  oppor 
tunities  were  not  lost  sight  of.  As  a  result,  most 
of  the  prominent  men  of  the  country  became 
well-known  to  me  personally — especially  those  in 
public  life,  and  among  these  many  became  my  close 
and  valued  friends.  The  characteristics,  the  hopes, 
and  the  ambitions  of  the  Japanese  people  were  not 
difficult  to  comprehend,  while  the  aims  and  the 
policies  of  the  Government  were  never  apparently 
concealed  from  me.  I  look  back  upon  my  years 
there  as  among  the  most  interesting  and  agreeable 
of  my  life,  and  I  came  away  having  a  profound 
sympathy  for  the  people  of  that  country.  Their 
problems  are  many  and  difficult.  In  almost  every 
direction  perplexities  confront  them,  yet  the 
people  are  loyal  and  patriotic  and  their  statesmen 
are  wise  beyond  belief. 

On  my  arrival  in  America  from  an  European 


Observations  53 

post,  and  later,  on  reaching  Japan,  discussion  in  the 
Press  and  among  the  people  was  at  its  height  over 
the  question  of  the  immigration  of  Japanese 
laborers  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  especially  to  Cali 
fornia,  and  also  over  the  question  of  segregation 
of  the  Japanese  school  children  in  San  Francisco. 
Mr.  Roosevelt  was  at  that  time  President,  and 
Mr.  Root  was  Secretary  of  State.  Neither  was 
inclined  to  underrate  the  importance  of  the  situ 
ation,  but  could  find  no  better  solution  of  the 
controversy  as  affecting  immigration  than  the 
restriction  by  the  Japanese  Government  itself  of 
its  laboring  population  from  our  Pacific  Coast. 
They  had  been  coming  in  considerable  numbers, 
following  the  war  with  Russia,  and  certain  elements 
in  California — perhaps  constituting  less  than  a 
majority — were  bitterly  opposed  to  the  intrusion  of 
this  class  of  workers,  and  through  representatives 
in  Congress  and  by  direct  appeal  to  the  Executive 
were  striving  to  secure  some  sort  of  relief.  Labor 
organizations  along  the  Pacific  Coast  had  suc 
ceeded  in  placing  the  working  class,  both  skilled 
and  unskilled,  on  a  very  high  plane  of  prosperity 
and  had  reached  a  point  where  the  rate  of  wages 
and  the  hours  and  conditions  of  labor  were  quite 
to  their  satisf action. //Japanese  immigrants,  being 
strangers  in  the  country,  for  the  most  part  ignor 
ant  of  the  language  and  customs  of  the  people,  and 
having  in  their  own  land  received  pitifully  low 
wages  and  having  lived  in  the  most  inexpensive 
and  primitive  state,  were  willing  to  accept  on  this 


54  America  to  Japan 

side  any  wage  which  would  bring  them  employ 
ment,  and  this,  it  was  claimed,  threatened  to  under 
mine  the  whole  labor  system  of  the  Pacific  States./^ 

The  situation  was  serious  and  promised  to  be 
come  a  source  of  much  anxiety  to  the  Government 
at  Washington.  It  was  my  early  duty  to  represent 
to  the  Government  of  the  day  the  sentiment 
obtaining  on  this  side  of  the  Pacific  and  to  press  for 
such  a  change  of  policy  as  would  put  an  end  to 
the  agitation  in  both  countries  and  relieve  the 
situation  from  the  strain  of  a  possible  disagree 
ment.  It  should  be  said  that  the  suggestion  was 
received  in  the  utmost  good  temper,  and  after 
much  negotiation  it  was  arranged  that  no  laborer 
should  be  provided  with  a  passport  entitling  him 
to  land  at  any  port  of  the  continental  United 
States.  The  growth  in  population  of  Japan  was 
such  that  in  the  recent  past  the  problem  of  finding 
room  for  the  excess  was  serious.  This  difficulty 
had,  however,  become  in  a  measure  modified 
through  the  acquisition  of  Korea  and  the  territorial 
rights  obtained  in  Manchuria  through  the  then 
recent  war  with  Russia.  These  outlets  aided  in 
no  small  degree  in  smoothing  the  way  to  a  more 
ready  solution  of  the  question  raised  by  the 
United  States. 

It  must  be  understood  that  the  Japanese  had 
many  ships  crossing  to  and  from  the  Pacific  Coast 
of  the  United  States — that  these  ships  had  been 
procured  and  were  being  sailed  in  large  part  to 
accommodate  the  immigrant  traffic  between  the 


Observations  55 

two  countries,  and  that  the  ownership  of  these 
transportation  facilities  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
influential  and  wealthy  portion  of  the  Japanese 
people.  The  proposition  to  abandon  such  lucra 
tive  business  met  with  vigorous  protests  from  the 
shipowners,  but  the  agreement  had  been  made  and 
was  adhered  to  through  the  integrity  and  moral 
courage  of  the  Government.  We  all  know  that  the 
Japanese  are  a  sensitive  and  proud  people  and 
naturally  they  were  hurt  by  the  knowledge,  so 
plainly  brought  home  to  them,  that  their  immi 
grant  population  was  unwelcome  in  the  United 
States  and  that  a  continuance  of  the  immigration 
would  be  embarrassing  to  us. 

The  arrangement  was  unusual,  but  it  has  served 
an  excellent  purpose  without  to  any  apparent 
extent  endangering  the  friendly  relations  between 
the  two  countries.  It  meant  what  most  states 
men  would  have  considered  a  loss  of  national 
prestige,  to  say  nothing  of  the  penalty  arising  from 
the  harmful  and  substantial  shrinkage  of  revenue. 

It  is  still  a  matter  of  doubt  with  me  whether 
the  unthinking  population  of  the  United  States, 
which  has  in  the  past  so  readily  expressed  a  feeling 
of  suspicion  as  to  the  sincerity  of  the  Japanese 
people,  have  ever  fully  realized  the  uncommon 
request  which  we  were  making,  or  the  dignity  and 
true  wisdom  shown  by  the  Japanese  in  yielding. 
Happily  there  are  growing  evidences  of  a  decrease 
of  hostile  sentiment  upon  our  side  of  the  ocean  and 
an  increasing  desire  for  more  friendly  relations. 


America  to  Japan 

A  characteristic  of  the  Japanese  people  is  loyalty 
to  the  Emperor  and  his  government.  There  is 
still  another,  equally  worthy,  viz.,  outspoken 
gratitude  for  kindnesses  received  from  alien  people. 
The  latter  characteristic  especially  interests  us. 
They  have  a  deep-seated  confidence  in  the  good 
faith  of  the  people  of  the  United  States;  they  con 
sider  themselves  vastly  indebted  to  us,  and  it  would 
be  impossible  to  make  them  believe  that  any 
matters  of  difference  which  could  possibly  arise 
would  have  the  effect  of  alienating  the  two  govern 
ments.  It  is  a  pleasant  reflection  that  during  my 
residence  in  the  country,  a  period  when  a  feeling  of 
antagonism  might  have  been  expected  (if  we 
except  the  sayings  of  a  few  irresponsible  news 
papers),  I  never  heard  or  learned  of  any  hostile 
declarations  or  threats  on  account  of  our  attitude. 
The  people  of  the  country  are  heroic  in  battle, 
and  yet  I  do  not  believe  there  is  a  love  of  war.  // 

There  is  no  other  nation  in  the  Far  East,  except 
Japan,  whose  ill-will  should  give  us  the  least  con 
cern.  Japan  has  been  and  is  still  ready  to  main 
tain  with  us  the  most  cordial  relations.  If  this  is 
true  it  should  influence  those  among  us  who  are 
feverishly  anxious  to  build  and  maintain  a  vast 
navy  in  the  Pacific.  If  my  estimate  is  correct,  and 
if  the  occasional  misunderstandings  which  are 
likely  to  arise  should  be  managed  in  a  diplomatic 
fashion,  a  continued  good  understanding  will 
always  result. 
The  arrangement  touching  peasant  immigration 


Observations  57 

to  our  Pacific  Coast,  made  in  1907,  still  subsists, 
and  I  believe  it  will  so  continue  unless  our  attitude 
should  substantially  change — a  thing  which  we 
cannot  anticipate  in  the  near  future.  The  excepted 
class, — scholars,  students,  professional  men,  mer 
chants,  and  others,  whose  presence  in  the  country 
could  not  be  expected  to  influence  labor  condi 
tions, — might  well  be  admitted,  and  if  admitted 
should  be  allowed  citizenship.  They  would  become 
upright,  law-abiding  Americans,  and  we  might  with 
the  utmost  confidence  rely  upon  the  sincerity  of 
their  political  action.  Accordingly  it  seems  to  me 
that  all  genuine  lovers  of  justice  and  fair  dealing  in 
our  country — all  well-meaning  people  who  would 
encourage  and  aid  the  advancing  civilization 
of  a  near-by  nation,  eager  to  adopt  whatever  is 
best  in  our  different  standards — all  those  who  are 
lovers  of  peace  and  good  understanding — even 
all  those  whose  motive  is  no  higher  than  to  en 
courage  better  and  larger  trade  relations — should 
look  with  a  kindly  eye  upon  the  people  of  Japan. 
Given  an  opportunity  they  will  keep  step  with  us 
and  with  other  Western  nations  in  education,  in 
art,  in  the  sciences,  and  in  all  those  elevating 
influences  which  change  peoples  from  a  condition 
of  ignorance,  stupidity,  vice,  and  wickedness,  and 
speed  them  along  the  great  highway  of  better 
things.  The  educated  classes  fully  understand 
the  reasons  for  our  attitude  of  exclusion  and  for 
the  most  part  do  not  complain.  I  am  safe  in 
including  in  this  class  the  high-minded  and  intelli- 


58  America  to  Japan 

gent  men  who  form  the  Government  of  the  day, 
and  I  am  confident  that  as  our  objection  is  brought 
home  to  the  masses  in  a  friendly  fashion, — if  our 
attitude  shall  be  based  upon  economic  consider 
ations  of  high  importance  to  us, — instead  of 
resentment  there  will  be  gracious  acquiescence. 

It  is  a  matter  of  the  most  profound  regret 
that  Count  Hyashi  and  Count  Komura,  successive 
Foreign  Ministers,  and  Prince  Katsura,  the  Prime 
Minister,  whose  duty  it  was  to  deal  with  the  critical 
questions  arising  while  I  was  in  the  country,  have 
died  since  the  negotiations  were  concluded,  and  I 
am  glad  of  the  present  occasion  to  pay  a  high 
tribute  to  their  friendship,  sincerity,  and  wisdom. 

By  reason  of  my  more  intimate  knowledge  of 
the  country  and  the  people  I  have  been  led  to 
make  this  contribution  more  personal  than  would 
be  expected  from  others,  but  I  rest  in  the  hope 
that  the  unusual  circumstances  may  serve  as  a 
sufficient  apology. 


A    RED    CROSS    MESSAGE 

BY  MABEL   BOARDMAN 

Chairman,  Executive  Committee,  American  National  Red  Cross 
Society 

NATIONS,  like  individuals,  have  their  virtues  and 
their  vices.  The  virtues  of  each  should  be  emu 
lated  by  all.  The  vices  of  each  should  be  cor 
rected  by  the  nations  to  which  they  belong, 
but  by  international  charity  forgotten  by  the 
others. 

To  Japan  the  world  is  indebted  for  the  lessons 
that  so  many  of  her  virtues  set  before  it.  Those 
virtues  which  find  their  especial  exemplification  in 
the  Japanese  Red  Cross  are  among  the  finest. 
Nowhere  else  may  be  found  a  higher  type  of 
patriotism,  nowhere  a  more  universal  love  of 
country.  To  die,  if  need  be,  for  his  country  is 
so  great  an  honor  that  even  a  man's  family  ac 
cept  his  loss  as  too  hallowed  for  outward  show 
of  grief.  Yet  the  Japanese  people  do  not  wait 
for  the  day  of  war  to  give  sudden  and  spas 
modic  expression  to  their  patriotism,  but  in  the 
quiet  time  of  peace  their  love  for  Japan  finds 
constant  daily  expression  in  the  support  of  her 

59 


60  America  to  Japan 

Red  Cross.  Nearly  two  million  of  her  people — 
men,  women,  and  children — are  enrolled  under 
its  banner.  Not  only  does  it  stand  to  them  as 
the  highest  expression  of  their  patriotic  devotion 
to  their  country,  but  as  the  exemplification  of 
the  noblest  type  of  humanity,  humanity  to  all 
mankind. 

Our  old-fashioned  virtue  of  chivalry,  so  often 
neglected  in  the  selfishness  of  modern  life,  finds 
its  unforgotten  counterpart  in  the  Japanese  spirit 
of  bushido.  Animated  by  their  own  patriotism 
and  by  this  virtue  of  chivalry  or  bushido,  her 
people  act  with  kindness  and  courtesy  to  those 
of  her  enemies  who  in  the  changing  fortunes  of  war 
become  her  prisoners.  The  man  who  has  fought 
for  the  sake  of  his  country  is  a  man  Japan  respects, 
and  her  conduct  towards  her  prisoner  guests 
gives  many  a  Western  nation  an  example  that  is 
well  worth  following. 

At  the  time  of  the  war  with  China,  Japan 
announced  to  all  the  other  signatory  powers  that 
though  China  had  not  then  signed  the  Treaty  of 
Geneva,  which  therefore  annulled  the  obligations, 
Japan  would  stand  by  all  its  provisions.  During 
the  late  war  with  Russia  the  Russian  Government 
sent  funds  to  the  Japanese  Red  Cross  to  aid  in  the 
care  of  the  Russian  wounded  prisoners,  such  was 
its  confidence  in  the  principles  of  that  Society.  It 
is  the  inspiration  of  such  patriotism  and  such 
humanity  that  has  enabled  Japan  to  create  a 
Society  not  only  capable  of  caring  for  her  own  sick 


A  Red  Cross  Message  61 

and  wounded,  but  that  can  and  does  care  for  those 
of  her  enemies. 

Japan  has  shown  no  egotism  in  her  desire  to 
learn.  Earnestly,  faithfully,  and  modestly,  she 
has  studied  and  has  tried  to  learn  all  the  best 
there  was  to  be  found  in  the  work  and  organization 
of  her  sister  Red  Cross  societies.  Nor  has  she 
been  willing  to  be  a  receiver  only,  but  willing 
ly  has  done  her  share  for  the  aid  of  all.  Though 
suffering  from  the  wounds  of  the  greatest  war  in 
her  history,  the  Red  Cross  of  Japan  poured  out  of 
her  heavily  drained  treasury  nearly  $150,000 
to  help  the  victims  of  the  San  Francisco  fire 
and  earthquake.  Her  Majesty,  the  late  Empress 
Haru  Ko,  who  was  a  devoted  patroness  of  the 
Japanese  Red  Cross,  three  years  ago  gave  $50,000, 
the  income  of  which  is  to  be  devoted  to  the  en 
couragement  of  the  peace  activities  of  the  Inter 
national  Red  Cross  work.  She  herself  wrote  an 
exquisite  little  verse  of  that  universal  love  which 
overflows  the  boundaries  of  the  empires  unto  lands 
beyond. 

It  is  for  this  example  of  patriotism  so  finely 
and  so  continuously  expressed  through  her  Red 
Cross,  for  her  chivalry  in  the  treatment  of  the 
prisoners  of  war,  for  her  patient  faithfulness  in 
acquiring  knowledge,  and  for  her  international 
assistance  to  lands  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the 
Empire  that  our  American  Red  Cross  sends  its 
message  of  gratitude  to  Japan. 

Kipling  has  said : 


62  America  to  Japan 

"For  East  is  East,  and  West  is  West; 
And  never  the  twain  shall  meet." 

But  met  they  have  under  the  same  great  flag  of 
humanity,  carried  and  revered  by  all  nations — the 
Flag  of  the  Red  Cross. 


LEST   WE    FORGET 

BY  JOHN   FOORD 

Journalist 

IT  may  sound  rhetorical,  but  it  may  also  turn 
out  to  be  true  that  "when  history  shall  have 
placed  all  the  great  political  events  of  the  nine 
teenth  century  in  their  proper  perspective,  none 
will  bulk  larger  in  the  eyes  of  posterity  than 
the  appearance  of  Commodore  Perry's  fleet  in 
Japanese  waters."  The  obvious  reason  is  that 
this  event  began  a  complete  revolution  in  the 
relation  between  the  West  and  the  East  by  awak 
ening  to  a  consciousness  of  its  power  an  Eastern 
nation  which,  for  the  first  time  in  history,  has 
shown  itself  able  to  assimilate  in  great  measure 
the  civilization  of  the  West  without  surrendering 
its  own,  and  thus  to  assert  a  claim  to  take  rank  on 
a  footing  of  equality  with  the  Great  Powers  of  the 
West  in  the  arts  both  of  peace  and  war.  When, 
therefore,  the  Island  Empire,  whose  seclusion  for 
three  centuries  was  broken  in  upon  by  the  bearer 
of  a  letter  from  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
became  the  defender  of  the  principles  and  policy 
which  this  Government  had  deliberately  adopted 

63 


64  America  to  Japan 

and  steadfastly  maintained  in  its  efforts  to  con 
serve  the  commercial  interests  of  its  citizens  in 
Eastern  Asia,  it  was  inevitable  that  the  sympathy 
of  the  American  people  should  be  on  its  side.  The 
fact  was  freely  recognized  that  Japan  had  gone 
further  than  this  country  was  prepared  to  go  in 
submitting  her  case  against  Russia  to  the  arbitra 
ment  of  the  sword.  This  she  would  hardly  have 
done  but  for  the  lessons  she  had  learned  after  the 
war  with  China  in  1894 — a  war  whose  fruits  she 
was  not  allowed  to  reap,  although  they  were 
gathered  in  by  Russia  almost  without  an  effort. 
It  had  become  an  accepted  axiom  of  Japanese 
statesmanship  that  Korea  was  a  dagger  aimed  at 
the  heart  of  Japan,  and  it  was  sufficiently  evident 
that  no  nation  could  regard  with  equanimity  the 
prospect  of  an  easily  fortified  peninsula,  lying 
almost  within  stone  throw  of  her  shores,  being 
absorbed  by  an  aggressive  military  power. 

Hence,  in  1904,  the  world  was  called  upon  to 
contemplate  one  of  the  most  remarkable  situations 
in  all  history.  The  battle  of  human  freedom  which 
was  won  against  the  hosts  of  Persia  at  Marathon 
and  Salamis  was  then  being  waged  by  a  people  of 
unmixed  Asiatic  blood  against  an  Empire  calling 
itself  European,  and  claiming  to  be  the  champion 
of  white  men  against  the  yellow  races.  This  is 
surely  a  fact  to  be  remembered  by  people  who  are 
frightened  by  the  bogey  of  a  regenerated  Asia, 
equipped  with  the  weapons  of  modern  warfare  but 
filled  with  the  lust  of  conquest.  We  owe  it  to 


Lest  We  Forget  65 

Japan  that  we  have  not  to-day  another  Europe 
facing  us,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Pacific,  garri 
soned  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Chinese  troops 
bearing  modern  arms  and  trained  by  European 
soldiers.  With  the  defeat  of  Japan  the  dominion 
of  Russia  would  have  unquestionably  been  ex 
tended  to  the  Yellow  River,  that  of  Germany 
would  have  been  enlarged  to  meet  the  Yangtsze, 
that  of  France  prolonged  from  Indo-China  into 
Szechuan,  leaving  that  of  Great  Britain  to  occupy 
the  unclaimed  space  between.  There  could  have 
been  no  stable  balance  of  power  between  such 
forces,  dividing  among  them,  in  the  shape  of 
spheres  of  influence  and  of  sovereignty,  a  dis 
membered  China.  The  inevitable  conflict  for 
supremacy,  sooner  or  later,  would  have  ensued 
— a  conflict  envenomed,  sanguinary,  and  destruc 
tive  beyond  all  precedent — with  only  this  certain 
issue,  that  the  victor  would  dominate  Asia,  and 
that  with  this  dominance  would  come  the  reduc 
tion  of  the  United  States  to  the  rank  of  a  secondary 
Power  on  the  Pacific.  From  a  standing  menace, 
equally  to  the  peace  of  the  world  and  the  future 
of  the  United  States,  Japan  saved  us  in  1904. 
Have  we  so  soon  forgotten  the  magnificent  prowess 
and  the  scrupulous  honor  of  the  country  which 
performed  that  feat,  as  to  listen  with  patience  to 
brainless  twaddle  about  the  "yellow  peril,"  and 
reckless  aspersions  on  the  good  faith  of  Nippon? 


INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT 

BY    WILLIAM     SKINNER 
Former  President  American  Silk  Association 

"AMERICA'S  message  to  Japan."  What  could 
it  be  but  a  message  of  friendship;  a  message  of 
good  cheer;  a  message  of  admiration  for  a  country, 
which  during  the  past  sixty  years  has  emerged 
almost  from  the  Middle  Ages  to  the  foremost  rank 
in  civilization? 

Japan's  industrial  development  is  the  marvel  of 
the  world.  Here  in  America  we  think  we  have 
achieved  much,  but  it  has  taken  us  two  hundred 
years  to  do  what  Japan  has  accomplished  in  the 
short  period  of  sixty  years. 

When  I  first  visited  Japan  in  1 889  there  was  no 
Parliament,  and  as  the  railroads  covered  but  a 
small  portion  of  the  island,  many  of  the  smaller 
cities  were  not  easily  accessible  to  the  tourist.  I 
saw  enough  at  that  time,  however,  to  realize  dur 
ing  my  next  visit,  twenty  years  later,  in  1909, 
what  marvelous  changes  had  taken  place.  To 
me,  as  a  silk  manufacturer,  the  changes  in  the  silk 
industry  were  most  apparent.  From  a  small  be 
ginning  in  1876,  Japan  last  year  exported  27, 000,000 

66 


Industrial  Development  67 

pounds  of  raw  silk,  of  which  20,000,000  pounds 
came  to  the  United  States.  In  view  of  this  fact 
any  serious  misunderstanding  between  the  two 
nations  seems  to  me  to  be  inconceivable. 

On  both  of  my  visits  to  Japan  I  was  everywhere 
received  most  cordially  with  a  hospitality  that  ap 
parently  knew  no  bounds.  And  as  to  the  generosity 
of  the  nation,  we  Americans  do  not  forget  that, 
following  the  San  Francisco  earthquake,  the  Japan 
ese  Red  Cross  contributed  over  $100,000  to  the 
sufferers.  Such  gifts  create  friendship. 

Again  speaking  from  the  view-point  of  a  manu 
facturer  of  silk  and  as  a  well-wisher  of  Japan,  I 
feel  that  when  China  has  adopted  the  European 
methods  of  reeling  raw  silk,  she  must  of  necessity 
become  Japan's  rival,  and  for  this  awakening 
Japan  should  be  prepared. 

From  time  to  time  differences  are  bound  to 
arise  between  our  own  nation  and  Japan,  but  all 
talk  of  any  serious  misunderstanding  is  unthink 
able.  The  United  States  and  Japan  must  forever 
be  Allies  in  maintaining  peace  on  the  Pacific 
Ocean. 


WORLD  UNITY 

BY    HAMILTON    HOLT 

Editor,  The  Independent 

IF  the  Pacific  Ocean  is  to  be  the  theater  of  the 
world's  future  civilization — and  the  Great  War  in 
Europe  is  helping  to  bring  this  about— then  there 
are  no  two  nations  on  the  face  of  the  earth  which 
should  be  better  friends  than  Japan  and  the 
United  States. 

At  present  the  historic  friendship  between  these 
two  Powers  is  strained.  A  suspicion  has  already 
been  engendered  in  each  country  that  the  other 
cherishes  hostile  feelings  towards  it  and  is  prepar 
ing  to  make  war  upon  it,  and  yet  each  knows  that 
its  own  war  preparations  are  not  directed  against 
the  other.  This  is  the  condition  in  which  Europe 
found  itself  before  the  Great  War.  Ways  must  be 
devised  to  remove  this  misunderstanding  between 
Japan  and  the  United  States. 

I  am  glad  that  a  group  of  gentlemen  in  Japan 
have  united  in  sending  a  message  of  good  will  to 
the  United  States,  and  that  we  are  to  reciprocate 
in  this  message  of  good  will  to  Japan.  The 
volume  from  our  Japanese  friends  contains  among 

68 


World  Unity  69 

others  a  very  remarkable  article  by  Count  Okuma, 
Japan's  sage  and  premier.  The  most  significant 
sentence  in  that  article,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the 
following:  "It  is  Japan's  mission  to  harmonize 
the  Eastern  and  Western  civilization  in  order  to 
help  bring  about  the  unification  of  the  world. " 

I  am  proud  to  believe  that  the  United  States, 
too,  seems  destined  to  play  an  equally  important 
though  different  role  in  the  movement  toward 
world  unity.  The  United  States  is  itself  an  exam 
ple  to  the  nations  of  the  world  as  to  how  different 
states  can  live  together  in  peace  and  harmony 
under  a  reign  of  law.  The  United  States  is  the 
world  in  miniature.  It  is  a  confederation  of 
forty-eight  sovereign  states.  It  is  the  greatest 
league  of  peace  known  to  history.  It  is  a  demon 
stration  that  all  the  races  of  the  earth  can  be 
brought  together  under  one  form  of  government, 
and  its  chief  value  to  civilization  is  a  demon 
stration  of  what  this  form  of  government  is.  The 
" United  Nations"  will  follow  the  United  States. 
A  "Declaration  of  Interdependence"  will  follow 
the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Let  Japan  understand,  however,  that  despite  the 
fact  that  the  federal  system  of  the  United  States 
is  the  pattern  that  the  nations  of  the  world  must 
follow  if  they  are  to  obtain  peace  through  justice, 
the  United  States  has  never  up  to  this  time  played 
an  important  part  in  world  politics.  My  country 
has  always  heeded  rigorously  George  Washington's 
advice  to  avoid  "entangling  alliances."  Con- 


70  America  to  Japan 

sequently  the  United  States  has  had  no  foreign 
policy  as  have  most  other  nations.  The  Ameri 
can  people  have'  given  their  attention  almost  ex 
clusively  to  domestic  concerns.  They  are  sincerely 
peace-loving.  When  they  have  offended  other 
nations  it  has  been  usually  from  ignorance  or 
indifference  to  international  usage.  But  whenever 
foreign  problems  are  presented  to  them  clearly 
they  can  always  be  depended  upon  to  decide  them 
in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  justice  and 
good  neighborhood.  Accordingly  as  the  United 
States  comes  to  realize  the  fairness  of  Japan's 
contentions  I  look  to  see  the  misunderstandings 
between  Japan  and  America  gradually  disappear. 
In  the  meantime  I  beg  Japan  to  have  patience  with 
us  and  to  overlook  any  apparent  discourtesies. 
On  March  31,  1854,  Commodore  Perry,  in  behalf 
of  the  United  States,  signed  with  Japan  a  treaty  of 
commerce  and  friendship  which  opened  Japan  to 
the  world  and  inaugurated  the  most  remarkable 
political  and  social  revolution  known  to  history. 
The  first  sentence  of  that  treaty  reads  as  follows : 
''There  shall  be  perfect,  permanent,  and  universal 
peace  and  a  sincerely  cordial  amity  between  the 
United  States  of  America  on  the  one  part  and 
the  Empire  of  Japan  on  the  other  and  between 
their  people  respectively  without  exception  of 
persons  and  places. "  This  is  the  spirit  that  I  am 
sure  will  prevail  between  Japan  and  America 
despite  the  clouds  on  the  present  horizon.  Together 
these  two  nations  must  work  toward  world  unity  so 


World  Unity  71 

as  to  hasten  that  day  when  as  Victor  Hugo  pro 
phesied:  "  The  only  battlefield  will  be  the  mar 
ket  opening  to  commerce  and  the  mind  to  new 
ideas/' 


EARLY  FINANCIAL  RELATIONS 

BY  HENRY  CLEWS 

Banker ;  Author,  Fifty  Years  in  Wall  Street 

SOON  after  our  Civil  War  and  in  the  early  part 
of  the  first  term  of  General  Grant  as  President 
of  the  United  States,  Japan  sent  a  commission,  of 
which  the  late  Prince  Ito  was  the  chairman,  to 
this  country  to  learn  about  our  money  system 
with  a  view  to  revising  their  own.  They  were  ac 
credited  with  strong  letters  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  so  President  Grant  recommended 
to  the  commission  that  they  come  to  New  York 
to  make  a  study  of  financial  matters.  I  spent 
several  weeks  advising  with  them  and  on  their 
return  home  they  made  a  report  strongly  rec 
ommending  the  adoption  of  the  plan  here 
agreed  upon,  the  main  feature  of  which  was  the 
decimal  system  for  their  money  and  bond  issues. 

In  my  company  the  commission  visited  the 
Sub-Treasury,  the  Custom  House,  banks,  and 
other  public  institutions  where  we  were  most 
cordially  received.  The  members  of  the  com 
mission  also  met  many  of  our  leading  merchants, 
and  proved  themselves  ready  pupils  in  acquiring 

72 


Early  Financial  Relations  73 

knowledge  of  the  detail  matters  relating  to  our 
mercantile  affairs. 

From  what  the  commission  learned  in  both 
hemispheres  Japan  adopted  a  new  financial  system, 
making  a  complete  change  in  business  and  money 
affairs,  with  such  radical  results  and  amazing  suc 
cess  that  it  astonished  the  world.  Japan  took,  in 
the  main,  the  United  States  for  a  model,  and  sent 
instructions  to  me  as  her  appointed  agent  to 
have  different  denominations  of  bonds  and  money 
engraved  in  their  own  language.  The  National 
Bank  Note  Co.,  which  was  the  lowest  bidder, 
was  awarded  the  contract  for  the  engraving 
of  the  Japanese  bonds  and  currency,  and  after 
the  new  system  was  put  into  effect  I  received  a 
very  flattering  letter  from  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  of  Japan  thanking  me  for  my  services, 
and  accompanying  the  letter  was  a  very  handsome 
pair  of  Japanese  silver  vases  as  a  souvenir  of  the 
successful  completion  of  my  work  in  behalf  of 
the  Japanese  nation.  The  Japanese  government 
afterwards  acted  in  conformity  with  my  earnest 
recommendation  by  adopting  the  decimal  system 
and  also  issuing  bonds  in  denominations  similar  to 
ours,  thereby  making  their  former  insular  system 
conform  to  the  monetary  basis  of  other  great 
nations.  From  being  walled  in  financially  Japan 
thus  placed  herself  in  reciprocal  monetary  relations 
with  all  the  world.  At  a  great  banquet  given  in 
his  honor  by  the  Japan  Society,  Baron  Takahira, 
Ambassador  to  this  country  from  Japan,  stated 


74  America  to  Japan 

that  "the  adoption  of  a  modern  system  of  finance 
by  the  oldest  dynasty  in  the  world — taught  to  her 
by  Henry  Clews,  representing  the  youngest 
of  the  great  nations — was  an  achievement  only 
second  in  importance  to  the  opening  of  the  ports 
of  Japan  to  the  commerce  of  the  world  by  Com 
modore  Perry  in  1854,  and  as  beneficial  and  far- 
reaching  in  its  results." 

Through  my  efforts  generally  in  behalf  of  the 
commission  I  made  many  strong  friends  in  Japan 
among  their  most  prominent  officials  and  citizens, 
and  Prince  Ito  afterwards  always  spoke  of  me  as 
his  financial  teacher.  I  kept  up  a  continuous 
correspondence  with  him  up  to  the  time  of  his 
lamented  death,  my  last  letter  from  him  being 
received  just  ten  days  prior  to  his  assassination. 
There  has  seldom  been  a  man  of  great  prominence 
from  Japan  visiting  this  country  that  I  have  not 
met,  and  the  late  Emperor,  in  recognition  of  my 
gratuitous  efforts  in  serving  his  country,  conferred 
upon  me  the  decoration  of  the  ' '  Order  of  the  Ris 
ing  Sun. " 

I  may  mention  that  the  first  bonds  issued  by 
Japan  were  payable  in  pounds  sterling  in  London 
for  an  amount  equivalent  to  ten  millions  of  dollars, 
and  these  were  negotiated  by  the  Orient  Bank 
of  London,  with  the  cooperation  of  my  firm.  This 
was  a  great  success. 

Little  did  I  think  when  first  I  shook  hands  with 
Marquis  Ito  that  he  was  to  become  one  of  the 
leading  figures  in  the  diplomatic  world.  Before 


Early  Financial  Relations          75 

his  untimely  death  he  ranked  with  Gladstone 
and  John  Hay,  and  no  English-speaking  citizen 
can  do  him  greater  honor  than  name  him  as 
one  of  the  trinity  of  these  great  lights  of  their 
generation. 

I  have  the  highest  respect  and  admiration  for 
the  Japanese  people,  and  I  have  watched  their 
forward  stride  until  they  have  placed  their  country 
in  the  front  rank  among  the  great  nations.  It  is 
a  matter  of  deep  regret  to  me  that  owing  appar 
ently  to  slight  labor  troubles  some  friction  and 
misunderstanding  have  arisen  that  have  led  some 
of  their  people  to  believe  that  our  citizens  were  op 
posed  to  theirs.  Surely  no  one  in  the  eastern  part  of 
our  country,  where  so  many  Japanese  have  settled, 
for  one  moment  harbors  such  an  idea.  In  many 
respects  the  Japanese  are  models  of  industry  for 
our  own  young  men  to  pattern  after.  The  Japan 
Society  in  America  is  a  useful  organization  and  is 
doing  great  and  good  work.  Our  people  and  theirs 
meet  in  the  most  cordial  manner  and  no  one  who 
has  attended  any  of  the  numerous  meetings  has 
any  doubt  of  the  kindly  spirit  in  which  we  look 
upon  each  other. 

The  Order  of  the  Rising  Sun  is  truly  well  named 
as  the  advance  made  by  Japan  in  fifty  years  has 
been  phenomenal.  To-day  the  Emperor  might 
well  create  a  new  order  and  call  it  the  "Order  of 
the  Noonday  Sun, "  as  their  brightness  as  a  people 
entitles  them  to  the  highest  respect  and  esteem, 
and  their  sun  will  never  set. 


SINCE  THIRTY  YEARS 

BY    HON.    LARZ    ANDERSON 

Ex-Ambassador  to  Japan 

WE  should  all  be  grateful  indeed  for  the  issue 
of  the  " Message"  that  came  to  us  from  Japan  not 
long  ago,  for  it  brought  authoritative  information 
from  Japan's  great  men  and  leaders  to  many  here 
who  did  not  know  Japan,  but  who  were  willing 
to  learn,  and  whose  interests  and  sympathies 
have  been  awakened  by  these  earnest  expositions 
of  Japan's  attitude  and  ambitions  which  came  to 
many  of  us  as  revelations.  But  a  message  from 
our  land  to  Japan  in  reply  must  be  one  more  full 
of  appreciation  than  of  information,  for  the  Japa 
nese  already  know  us  so  well  and  for  years  have 
studied  our  Constitution  and  politics  and  taken 
notes  of  our  methods  and  manners,  till  there  is 
little  new  that  we  can  tell  them.  But  we  can 
reply  to  them  out  of  our  hearts,  and  especially  I 
feel  this  must  be  my  own  case,  for  I  have  known 
Japan  so  long  and  so  well.  For  years  eager 
students  have  come  from  Japan  to  America  and 
gone  back  with  stores  of  what  they  have  learned 
and  have  experienced,  and  these  returned  students 

76 


Since  Thirty  Years  77 

are  now  of  immense  importance,  for  they  can  be 
loyal  to  and  aid  both  countries  because  of  their 
understanding  of  each  nation's  ideals  and  pur 
poses.  They  are  able  and  intelligent  men  and 
women  who  have  studied  in  our  American  institu 
tions,  and  they  are  a  most  valuable  link  in  our  in 
ternational  affairs,  for  out  of  their  experience  they 
can  understand  our  weakness  as  well  as  our  great 
ness.  They  are  now  in  the  high  places  in  their 
land,  and  their  sympathies  and  cooperation  are 
greatly  to  be  valued,  and  I  feel  sure  that  any 
American  Ambassador  may  look  to  them  at  all 
times  to  work  with  him  for  the  good  of  both 
nations. 

My  first  visit  to  Japan  was  almost  thirty  years 
ago ;  and  my  second  visit  almost  twenty ;  my  third 
visit  was  five  years  ago,  in  a  semi-official  manner, 
for  I  was  of  the  company  of  the  American  Secretary 
of  War,  Mr.  Dickinson,  when  we  stopped  over  in 
Japan  on  the  way  for  a  trip  of  inspection  to  the 
Philippines;  and  my  last  visit  was  three  years 
ago,  when  I  came  to  Japan  as  Ambassador  of  my 
country.  My  last  visit  was  the  realization  of  a 
dream  which  I  dreamed  during  my  first  visit, 
and  there  is  indeed  no  land  where  reality  and 
dreams  are  so  confounded  as  in  Japan,  for  the 
reality  often  seems  a  dream,  as  the  dream  proves  a 
reality.  I  have  always  found  Japan  to  be  a  Won 
derland,  and  have  never  been  disappointed  on  my 
repeated  returns  there,  for  although  many  and 
great  outward  changes  had  taken  place  during 


78  America  to  Japan 

those  years,  yet  each  time  I  saw  that  there  still 
remained  unchanged  behind  all  the  same  great 
National  Traits  that  are  among  the  finest  which 
have  been  granted  to  mankind,  and  which  flash 
out  every  now  and  then,  even  in  these  modern 
material  days,  in  some  splendid  act  of  self-sacrifice 
or  heroism,  of  loyalty  to  Emperor,  to  Country,  to 
Family,  or  Tradition,  which  is  so  fine,  but  now, 
alas!  so  out-of-date  in  the  rest  of  the  world  that 
it  is  scarcely  understood  or  appreciated. 

There  may  be  two  kinds  of  people;  first,  those 
who  come  near  to  understanding  the  Far  East, 
who  find  it  and  feel  it;  and  second,  those  who 
have  no  flare  for  the  Far  East,  and  distrust  and 
dislike  it.  If  so  I  belong  to  the  first  class,  to 
which  also  belong,  I  believe,  all  those  that  know 
the  Far  East  best.  And,  knowing  Japan  as  I 
have  known  it,  for  I  have  always  kept  up  relations 
with  the  simpler  friends  I  made  during  my  earlier 
visits  of  many  years  ago,  and  for  many  official 
associations  in  my  later  experiences,  I  may  say 
that  I  have  never  been  disappointed  in  my  unoffi 
cial  friends  or  in  my  official  relations,  and  by 
"never"  I  mean  in  comparison  with  experiences 
among  mine  own  people.  I  have  good  reason  for 
what  I  say,  for  no  Japanese  friend  has  ever  failed 
me,  and  during  my  official  life  I  had  the  happiest 
of  relations  without  a  single  ripple  to  trouble 
the  waters.  And  so  I  know  that  East  can  meet 
West,  although  verses  have  been  written  to  the 
contrary,  and  I  am  happy  to  have  this  opportunity 


Since  Thirty  Years  79 

to  record  these  facts.  The  Japanese  are  among 
the  most  responsive  of  people,  and  behind  a 
formal  mask  of  serenity  and  imperturbability 
they  are  very  appreciative  and  respond  quickly 
to  all  expressions  of  sympathy.  Our  first  Ameri 
can  representative  to  Japan,  Townsend  Harris, 
was  quick  to  see  this,  and  early  won  his  way 
into  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  Japan  by  proofs 
of  his  confidence  in  them,  and  every  American 
Minister  and  Ambassador  since  then  has,  I  am 
sure,  tried  to  emulate  this  first  great  representa 
tive  in  this  effort. 

Humankind  includes  many  different  races  and 
peoples,  but  Humankind  is  governed  by  certain 
great  Principles  notwithstanding  that  these  races 
and  peoples  may  differ  greatly  in  characteristics 
and  point  of  view.  And  so  whenever  these 
differing  races  come  to  an  issue  in  their  relations, 
the  first  and  most  vital  thing  to  do  in  seeking  a 
settlement,  is  at  once  frankly  to  recognize  and 
acknowledge  that  they  are  racially  different, 
and  yet  to  believe  that  they  are  each  probably 
seeking  the  same  end  in  their  different  ways. 
Too  often  the  mistake  is  made  in  taking  it  for 
granted  that  all  Peoples  should  see  things  in 
the  same  way,  while  it  is  obvious  that  Nations  of 
different  past  and  traditions  may  look  at  an  issue 
from  different  points  of  view  and  yet  each  be 
honest  in  its  intention.  As  all  Peoples  belong  to 
Humankind  there  must  be  some  point  at  which 
they  can  meet,  and  by  tact  and  discretion  and 


8o  America  to  Japan 

patience  the  originally  different  views,  striving  for 
the  same  end,  can  be  reconciled. 

Out  of  this  awe-inspiring  war  in  Europe,  some 
good  may  come.  For  this  war  is  proving  that  to 
day  great  Principles  are  greater  than  great  Princes 
or  Peoples,  since  Japanese  and  Anglo-Saxon  and 
Latin  and  Slav,  each  great  but  greatly  differing 
in  race  and  temperament,  are  fighting  side  by  side 
for  the  same  great  Principles.  So  we  may  feel 
sure  that  Japan  with  her  long  Imperial  history  and 
the  United  States  with  its  short  story  of  success 
ful  Democracy,  each  great,  but  each  great  in  a 
different  way,  will  always  find  some  essential 
Principle  of  Humankind,  common  to  both,  which 
is  greater  than  any  difference  between  them 
can  be,  and  which  will  cement  their  relations  in 
all  times. 


COMMON  IDEALS 

BY   HON.  GEORGE  W.   WICKERSHAM 

Former  Attorney -General  of  the  United  States 

MODERN  Japan  is  founded  upon  principles 
enunciated  in  the  "  Imperial  Oath  of  the  Five 
Articles"  one  of  which  is  "Knowledge  shall  be 
sought  for  throughout  the  world."  This  is  the 
wisdom  of  the  East.  More  than  three  thousand 
years  ago,  King  Solomon  wrote: 

Yea,  if  thou  criest  after  knowledge  and  liftest  up  thy 
voice  for  understanding ;  If  thou  seekest  her  as  silver, 
and  searchest  for  her  as  for  hid  treasures,  Then  thou 
shalt  understand  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  find  the 
knowledge  of  God. 

Paul,  the  great  Christian  apostle,  gave  expression 
to  the  same  thought  when  he  said,  "  Prove  all 
things;  holdfast  that  which  is  good."  The  re 
ligious  philosophy,  of  which  these  counsels  form 
a  vital  part,  is  that  upon  which  the  civilization  of 
America  has  been  built.  In  1854,  Commodore 
Perry  broke  through  the  wall  of  hostility  to 
the  outside  world  and  indifference  to  new 
things,  in  which  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years 
o  81 


82  America  to  Japan 

Japan  had  wrapped  herself,  and  recalled  to  her 
the  ancient  teachings  of  Asiatic  wisdom.  Like 
the  sleeping  beauty  in  the  fable,  awakened 
by  the  kiss  of  the  fairy  prince,  Nippon  awoke 
at  America's  appeal  to  a  new  and  larger  na 
tional  consciousness.  Her  first  step  was  to  aban 
don  all  pride  of  opinion,  and  to  send  her  sons 
far  and  wide  to  study  the  wisdom  and  the  accom 
plishments  of  Europe  and  America.  In  the  light 
of  the  knowledge  they  gained,  Japan  remodeled 
her  entire  civilization.  She  introduced  steam 
and  electricity  in  all  their  manifold  applications. 
Steam  railroads,  telegraph  and  telephone  lines, 
electric  trolley  roads,  and  electric  lighting,  spread 
rapidly  throughout  Japan.  The  narrow  streets  of 
the  ancient  cities  gave  way  to  the  broad  avenues 
and  spacious  places  of  Tokio  and  Kioto.  Osaka 
and  Kobe  and  Yokohama  became  hives  of  new 
industry.  Indeed,  the  city  of  Tokio  itself,  built 
since  the  Meiji,  is  the  visible  expression  of  the 
grafting  upon  Japan  of  ideas  of  Western  civili 
zation,  and  their  somewhat  uneven  rootage  and 
growth.  But  deeper  than  all  these  material  things 
was  the  awakening  of  the  rulers  of  Japan  to  a 
recognition  of  the  value  of  the  individual  man  in 
the  modern  state.  "Knowledge,"  said  Daniel 
Webster  in  his  oration  at  the  dedication  of  the 
Bunker  Hill  Monument,  "is  the  only  fountain, 
both  of  the  love  and  the  principles  of  human 
liberty. "  So,  we  find  another  of  the  Five  Articles 
of  the  Imperial  Oath  is  this:  "Officials,  civil  and 


Common  Ideals  83 

military,  and  all  common  people  shall,  as  far  as 
possible,  be  allowed  to  fulfill  their  just  desires, 
so  that  there  may  not  be  any  discontent  among 
them." 

The  abolition  of  the  feudal  system,  and  the 
establishment  of  a  system  of  compulsory  edu 
cation,  led  to  the  codification  of  the  civil  law  of  the 
Empire,  framed  in  harmony  with  modern  ideas 
of  jurisprudence,  and  yet  in  conformity  with  the 
traditions  of  the  Japanese  people.  The  publi 
cation  of  the  various  Codes  from  1880  to  1889 
was  followed  by  the  surrender  by  the  United 
States  and  the  European  Powers  of  their  extra 
territorial  jurisdiction  in  Japan,  thereby  admitting 
her  into  full  companionship  with  the  civilized 
Powers  of  the  modern  world.  With  her  new  juris 
prudence,  a  new  principle  was  born  among  her 
people.  As  Dr.  Hozumi  says,  in  his  Lectures  on 
the  Civil  Code,  in  the  evolution  of  her  law,  from 
being  rules  of  duty,  laws  had  become  rules  of  right. 
These  rights  were  enforced  in  the  new  courts 
established  throughout  the  Empire  for  the  adminis 
tration  of  justice  according  to  the  laws  which, 
while  in  theory  promulgated  by  the  Emperor,  in 
fact  were  adopted  by  the  Parliament  of  represent 
atives  of  the  people.  For  by  the  Constitution  of 
Japan,  the  legislative  power  is  exercised  by  the 
Emperor  only  with  the  consent  of  the  two  houses 
of  the  Imperial  Diet,  and  no  law  can  be  enacted, 
and  no  tax  raised  without  the  consent  of  the 
people's  representatives.  It  is  true  that  these 


84  America  to  Japan 

representatives  are  selected  by  the  exercise  of  a 
restricted  suffrage,  for  Japan,  while  exhibiting  an 
extraordinarily  rapid  progress  in  certain  directions, 
has  proceeded  with  cautious  deliberation  in  others. 
But  the  recognition  of  the  new  principle  of  the  right 
of  the  people  to  be  governed  only  by  laws  made  by 
their  representatives,  is  the  birth  of  an  idea  whose 
growth  is  as  irresistible  as  the  spread  of  a  forest 
fire.  The  right  of  all  men  to  life,  liberty,  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness  was  declared  in  the  proclama 
tion  of  American  Independence  of  Great  Britain  in 
1776  to  be  one  of  the  "inalienable  rights  of  man. " 
When  the  Emperor  of  Japan  declared  that  both 
officials  and  the  common  people  shall  so  far  as 
possible  be  allowed  to  fulfill  their  just  desires,  he 
opened  the  door  to  the  fullest  political  liberty  for 
the  men  of  Japan.  Political  liberty,  as  Thomas 
Paine,  the  American,  wrote,  and  the  National 
Assembly  of  France  in  1791  declared: 

Political  liberty  consists  in  the  power  of  doing 
whatever  does  not  injure  another.  The  exercise  of 
the  natural  rights  of  every  man  has  no  other  limits 
than  those  which  are  necessary  to  secure  to  every 
other  man  the  free  exercise  of  the  same  rights;  and 
these  limits  are  determinable  only  by  the  law. 

Universal  education  fits  an  increasing  number 
of  young  men  to  participate  in  the  duties  and 
privileges  of  citizenship,  and  unless  they  are 
admitted  to  it,  they  will  not  be  allowed  to  fulfill 
their  just  desires,  and  there  will  be  discontent 


Common  Ideals  85 

among  them, — contrary  to  the  Emperor's  oath. 
Sooner  or  later,  those  in  whom  power  is  vested 
come  to  realize  that  there  can  be  no  stable  govern 
ment  where  any  large  class  of  citizens  feeling 
themselves  competent  to  exercise  the  franchise 
are  denied  that  right.  It  is  a  fact  of  deep  signi 
ficance  that  the  first  Oath  of  the  Five  Articles 
declares:  "Deliberative  assemblies  shall  be  estab 
lished  and  all  measures  of  government  shall  be 
decided  by  public  opinion." 

When  the  gates  of  privilege  and  autocracy  are 
once  opened,  be  it  ever  so  little,  the  rising  tide  of 
Democracy  sooner  or  later  will  force  them  wide. 
Its  force  is  irresistible. 

Contemporaneously  with  this  awakening  of 
Japan  to  Western  ideas  and  institutions,  has  come 
a  great  industrial  and  commercial  expansion, 
which  has  been  aided  by  economic  machinery 
similar  to  that  in  our  own  country.  The  limited 
liability  corporation,  or  Societe  Anonyme,  was 
found  there,  as  in  the  United  States,  to  be  an 
indispensable  factor  in  the  conduct  of  great  enter 
prises,  affording  as  it  did  an  opportunity  to  com 
bine  a  large  number  of  small  contributions,  with 
liability  restricted  to  the  loss  of  the  amount  so 
contributed.  But  so  far  as  I  am  aware  the  great 
partnerships  of  corporations  known  as  "Trusts" 
have  not  been  developed  in  Japan,  and  there 
have  been  as  yet  no  "swollen  fortunes"  of  such 
disproportionate  size  as  to  occasion  apprehension 
and  call  forth  legislation  to  protect  Democracy 


86  America  to  Japan 

from  the  insidious  influence  of  Plutocracy.  But 
the  conduct  of  industry  on  a  large  scale  requires 
a  study  of  conditions  affecting  commerce  with 
every  country  whose  markets  are  open  to  the 
products  of  another.  Perry's  primary  object  in 
visiting  Japan  was  to  secure  an  opening  for  Ameri 
can  commerce.  To-day  Japan  exports  to  America 
for  sale  in  our  markets  more  than  America  sends  to 
her.  American  trade  with  Japan  thrives  because 
the  administration  of  justice  in  Japan  secures  to 
the  foreigner  within  her  borders  protection  in  his 
rights  in  exactly  the  same  degree  which  it  guaran 
tees  to  her  own  citizens.  The  manufactures  and 
the  exports  of  Japan  have  increased  in  exact  har 
mony  with  the  increase  of  her  knowledge  of  the 
needs  of  other  peoples  and  the  best  means  of 
supplying  them.  The  great  development  of  her 
natural  resources  and  her  success  in  war,  as  in 
peace,  have  been  the  result  of  applying  the  scienti 
fic  principle  of  subjecting  every  theory  to  the 
test  of  practical  application,  and  rejecting  ruth 
lessly  whatever  would  not  stand  the  test. 

Surely,  in  all  this,  we  see  a  nation  traveling  the 
pathway  we  too  trod  in  earlier  days.  America 
took  what  was  best  from  other  countries,  and 
improved  it  with  her  greater  freedom  from  con 
vention,  her  superior  initiative,  her  inventive 
faculties.  We,  too,  earlier  than  Japan,  declared 
the  principles  of  manhood  rights  of  self-govern 
ment.  We,  too,  found  that  "through  wisdom 
is  an  house  builded;  And  by  understanding  is  it 


Common  Ideals  87 

established;  And  by  knowledge  are  the  chambers 
filled  with  all  precious  and  pleasant  riches." 

Surely,  there  is  much  to  draw  the  peoples  of 
these  two  nations  together.  The  civilization  of 
both  is  now  established  on  the  same  Oriental 
principle  of  seeking  knowledge  to  get  wisdom. 
The  points  of  contact  in  our  thought  are  far  more 
numerous  than  the  points  of  difference.  If  we  in 
America  will  shun  that  pride  of  opinion  whose 
growth  is  so  apt  to  follow  on  the  attainment  of 
wealth  and  power,  and  recur  to  our  ancient  princi 
ples  so  well  expressed  in  the  Japanese  Emperor's 
Oath,  "Knowledge  shall  besought  for  throughout 
the  world,  so  that  the  welfare  of  the  Empire  may 
be  promoted,"  the  ties  which  Commodore  Perry 
and  the  Emperor  Matsuika  forged  in  1854  w^  be 
renewed  with  greater  strength,  and  the  most  en 
during  of  alliances  continue  between  the  two 
greatest  nations  whose  shores  are  washed  by  the 
same  Pacific  Ocean. 


THE  RIGHTS  OF  LABOR 

BY  LOUIS  D.  BRANDEIS 

Lawyer,  Authority  on  Labor  Questions,  Arbitrator  in  Labor 
Disputes 

HON.  Kojiro  Matsukata,  in  discussing  "Japa 
nese  Laborers,  "  gives  a  most  interesting  account  of 
the  social  relation  of  employer  and  employee.  He 
shows  that  the  feudalistic  conditions  have  not 
altogether  died  away  and  that  personal  loyalty 
to  the  master  survives  where  the  employer  is  wise 
and  good. 

Experience  has  taught  England  and  America 
that  wisdom  and  virtue  of  the  individual  employer 
can  make  but  a  brief  stand  against  the  incidents 
of  the  industrial  revolution  and  the  demands  of 
democracy.  The  contrast  between  political  lib 
erty  and  industrial  absolutism  is  sure  to  breed 
unrest;  and  the  creation  of  large  corporations 
must  prove  fatal  to  personal  loyalty  of  employee 
to  employer. 

The  introduction  of  the  factory  system — the 
substitution  of  the  machine  for  hand  labor  and 
of  the  corporation  for  the  individual  employer- 
led  to  the  exploitation  of  labor.  In  many  com- 

88 


The  Rights  of  Labor  89 

munities  deterioration  of  the  race  set  in  before  the 
danger  was  appreciated.  Then  we  sought  pro 
tection  through  the  Factory  Acts;  but  the  protec 
tion  was  inadequate.  The  measures  were  too 
restricted  in  their  operation  and  were  not  adopted 
until  long  after  the  evils  of  our  system  had  borne 
bitter  fruit.  First,  we  tried  to  protect  society 
by  prohibiting  certain  child  labor;  for  children  of 
five  or  six  were  working  in  textile  mills  sometimes 
as  many  as  sixteen  hours  a  day.  The  earliest 
child-labor  law  was  passed  in  England  113  years 
ago;  but  it  imposed  such  slight  restrictions  that 
a  quarter  of  a  century  elapsed  before  children 
under  nine  years  were  prohibited  from  working 
in  the  mills.  Even  now  in  some  of  our  States  chil 
dren  of  twelve  work  in  factories.  It  was  forty-two 
years  after  the  first  child- labor  law  was  enacted 
before  British  statesmen  appreciated  that  the 
welfare  of  society  demanded  the  protection  of 
mothers  as  well  as  of  children  from  excessive  labor ; 
and  two  generations  more  suffered  greatly  before 
women's  working  hours  were  reduced  to  nine. 

There  were  ravages  of  occupational  diseases 
before  the  need  was  recognized  of  laws  to  insure 
sanitary  factory  and  proper  working  conditions. 
There  were  armies  of  crippled  workmen  before 
adequate  safety  devices  were  required  to  protect 
against  accidents.  There  was  long  waiting  before 
we  entered  upon  the  field  of  social  insurance,  al 
though  the  need  of  workmen's  compensation  and 
of  pension  laws  should  have  been  obvious.  It  is 


90  America  to  Japan 

but  a  few  years  since  we  recognized  that  women 
need  the  protection  of  minimum  wage  laws.  We 
are  even  now  but  awakening  to  the  fact  that  the 
chaos  of  our  industrial  methods,  and  the  lack  of 
organization  of  labor  supplies,  call  for  the  regu- 
larization  of  employment  and  make  unemploy 
ment  insurance  imperative. 

We  have  seen  that  while  labor  was  often  over 
worked  and  underpaid,  many  employers  of  labor 
were  acquiring  wealth  so  vast  as  to  thwart  our 
efforts  for  true  democracy  and  to  menace  repub 
lican  institutions.  After  heavy  loss  and  much 
misery  we  are  learning  the  essentials  of  "equal 
opportunity  for  all";  that  the  liberty  which 
insures  to  each  citizen  the  right  to  enjoy  life,  to 
acquire  property,  and  pursue  happiness,  must  be 
so  exercised  as  to  be  consistent  with  the  exercise 
of  a  like  right  by  all  others;  and  that  a  worthy 
civilization  must  rest  upon  social  justice. 


WHAT  THE  WEST  MIGHT  LEARN  FROM 
JAPAN 

BY  GEORGE  KENNAN 
Author,  Lecturer 

IN  a  recent  editorial  on  the  improved  relations 
between  Russia  and  Japan,  the  Petrograd  Reitch 
said :  '//It  was  easy  for  us  to  make  friends  with  the 
Japanese,  after  the  war  of  1904-5,  because  they 
always  fought  us  like  gentlemen.'^ 

To  the  dispassionate  observer  of  wars,  nothing 
is  more  striking  than  the  difference  between 
the  spiritual  attitude  of  the  Japanese  toward  the 
Russians,  in  the  war  of  1904-5,  and  that  of  the 
combatants  toward  one  another  in  the  present 
conflict.  If  ever  a  nation  was  engaged  in  a  life- 
and-death  struggle  for  existence,  Japan  certainly 
was  so  engaged  ten  years  ago ;  and  yet,  the  magni 
tude  of  the  issue  involved  never  inspired  a  "Hymn 
of  Hatred"  in  Japan,  nor  excited  rancorous,. ani 
mosity  in  the  hearts  of  the  Japanese  people. .//They 
fought  the  Russians  as  fiercely  as  either  side  has 
fought  the  other  in  Belgium  or  France;  but  they 
never  hated  their  enemies,  either  nationally  or 
personally,  and  never  failed  to  do  full  justice  to 

91 


92  America  to  Japan 

Russian  motives  and  conduct,  fin  the  course  of 
two  years'  intercourse  with  Japanese  soldiers  and 
the  Japanese  people,  between  1904  and  1906,  I 
never  once  heard  a  mean,  ungenerous,  or  bitter 
remark  made  about  the  Russians,  their  character, 
or  their  conduct  of  the  war. 

Soon  after  I  arrived  atJPort  Arthur,  in  the  fall 
of  1904,  I  noticed  that  the  Japanese  Ued  Cross 
hospitals,  in  the  zone  of  fire,  were  not  flying  the 
Red  Cross  flag;  and  when  I  inquired  the  reason 
for  this,  a  Japanese  officer  told  me,  quietly  and 
without  emotion,  that  the  Red  Cross  flags  seemed 
to  attract  the  fire  of  the  Russian  artillery,  and 
they  had  therefore  hauled  them  down.  He  made 
no  comment,  and  one  might  have  supposed  that 
he  regarded  the  firing  on  a  Red  Cross  hospital  as 
a  natural  and  normal  incident  of  war. 

About  the  same  time,  I  myself  saw  what  seemed 
to  be  the  deliberate  and  purposeful  shelling  of  a 
long  train  of  stretcher-bearers,  who  were  carrying 
Japanese  wounded  back  from  the  front;  but  no 
Japanese,  in  conversation  with  me,  ever  referred 
to  this  cruel  and  dishonorable  act  as  an  illustra 
tion  of  Russian  barbarity.  They  simply  ignored  it. 

A  few  weeks  later,  I  was  called  upon  to  act  as 
interpreter  in  an  interview  between  two  Japanese 
staff  officers  and  three  or  four  Russian  prisoners 
who  had  just  been  brought  back  from  the  firing 
line.  I  feared  that  the  officers  might  put  me  in 
an  unpleasant  and  awkward  position  by  request 
ing  me  to  ask  the  Russians  questions  which,  as 


What  the  West  Might  Learn        93 

loyal  soldiers,  they  could  not  properly  answer; 
but  I  need  have  had  no  such  fear.  Not  a  single 
attempt  was  made  to  learn  the  state  of  affairs  in 
Port  Arthur,  and  not  a  question  was  asked  that  a 
loyal  Russian  soldier  might  not  frankly  answer 
without  betraying  his  comrades,  or  the  interests 
of  his  country.  The  Japanese  would  doubtless 
have  been  glad  to  know  what  the  real  state  of 
affairs  in  the  besieged  fortress  was;  but  to  obtain 
the  desired  information  by  forcing  or  tempting  a 
Russian  prisoner  to  disregard  his  military  oath 
and  betray  his  comrades  would  have  been  a  viola 
tion  of  the  Japanese  code  of  honor. 

Evidences  of  Japanese  chivalry  and  courtesy 
toward  their  enemies  in  Manchuria  are  so  numer 
ous  that  I  hardly  know  how  to  make  a  selection 

XT 

from  them;  buj^every  one  who  paid  any  attention 
to  that  war  must  remember  the  Japanese  memorial 
service  in  honor  of  the  Russian  sailors  who  sank 
in  the  cruiser  Variag  at  Chemulpo;  the  monument 
erected  to  the  Russian  soldiers  who  perished  at 
Port  Arthur;  the  memorial  crosses  put  up  over 
the  graves  of  Russians  who  died  between  Liao- 
yang  and  Mukden^and  the  letter  from  the  officers 
of  the  Japanese  army  to  the  officers  of  the  Russian 
army,  congratulating  them  on  having  had  in  their 
service  so  heroic  a  man  and  so  devoted  a  soldier 
as  the  spy  Vassilli  Liuboff.  The  Japanese  shot 
the  spy,  but  they  paid  honor  to  his  brave  Russian 
spirit,  and  expressed  the  courteous  hope  that  in 
the  Russian  ranks  might  be  found  many  soldiers 


94  America  to  Japan 

equally  patriotic  and  loyal.  Does  that  sound  like 
anything  that  we  have  heard  from  either  side  in 
the  present  conflict? 

What,  then,  may  the  nations  of  the  West,  in 
the  turmoil  of  war,  learn  from  the  greatest  nation 
of  the  Orient?  /First  of  all,  it  seems  to  me,  they 
may  learn  to  hold  their  tongues  and  use  their 
brainsj_to  kill  their  enemies  without  insulting  them; 
and  to  hit  hard  but  fight  fairly^ 


ELIMINATE  THE  BARRIERS 

BY  DR.  DAVID  STARR  JORDAN 

Chancellor,   Leland   Stanford  Junior  University 

I  BEG  to  join  my  American  colleagues  in  an 
expression  of  sincere  good- will  towards  the  people 
of  Japan.  It  has  seemed  to  me  the  most  pressing 
duty  of  good  men  of  all  the  world  to  do  their  part 
in  establishing  friendly  international  relations  and 
in  breaking  down  the  barriers  between  races  and 
nations,  which  greed  and  vanity  have  done  so 
much  to  build  up.  I  have  been  in  many  nations 
and  among  many  peoples  and  I  have  never  found 
any  form  of  race  hatred  that  was  natural  to  the 
people.  It  is  always  the  result  of  outside  agencies, 
operating  in  the  guise  of  patriotism  or  religion,  or 
else  it  has  been  excited  by  the  fact  or  by  the 
intention  of  war. 

In  my  relation  with  the  people  of  Japan,  I  have 
found  them  very  much  like  the  people  of  Europe, 
with  the  same  thoughts,  feelings,  and  aspirations, 
moved  in  general  by  the  same  impulses,  differing 
as  a  whole  in  minor  matters,  the  most  notable  of 
which  is  their  abounding  good  nature,  their  helpful 
ness  and  cheerfulness  even  under  ad  verse  conditions. 

95 


96  America  to  Japan 

Their  customs  are  different  from  those  of  Europe 
—even  as  they  wear  different  clothing.  But  these 
are  matters  wholly  internal.  Japan  lived  long  to 
herself  while  Europe  was  finding  her  type  of  civi 
lization,  which,  unfortunately,  she  has  built  up 
over  dynamite.  As  a  result,  it  has  been  hidden, 
not  lost,  in  the  dust  of  defeat,  but  it  will  be  re 
covered  after  a  time,  and  it  may  be  part  of  the 
mission  of  Japan  to  help  Europe  as  well  as  Asia 
to  find  herself. 

The  great  War  System,  descended  from  mediaeval 
Europe,  weakened  by  commerce,  culture,  and  inter 
nationalism,  intensified  and  sharpened  to  its  final 
doom  by  science,  is  now  moving  toward  its  death. 
It  may  perish  soon  or  it  may  endure  for  another 
world  calamity,  but  it  is  dying  in  its  death  throes 
nevertheless.  And  in  these  throes  it  has  involved 
Japan,  to  her  own  misfortune  and  to  that  of  the 
rest  of  the  world.  For  it  is  a  world  calamity  when 
any  nation  dissolves  into  the  anarchy  of  war. 

I  cannot  congratulate  Japan  on  any  war  nor 
on  any  war's  results.  Her  conflicts  may  have  been 
inevitable  under  the  customs  of  the  War  System, 
and  in  no  case  do  we  blame  Japan  as  the  wanton 
aggressor.  But  the  facts  of  war  remain.  There 
can  be  no  permanent  glory  or  welfare  of  any  nation 
apart  from  the  welfare  of  its  people.  To  be  re 
nowned  abroad  for  skill  or  for  courage  is  not  a 
permanent  asset.  The  standing  of  a  nation  de 
pends  upon  the  condition  of  its  people.  Are  these 
industrious,  comfortable,  contented?  Is  there 


Eliminate  the  Barriers  97 

reasonable  progress  on  road  building,  railway  con 
struction,  industrial  and  commercial  develop 
ment?  Are  the  interests  of  the  middle  class  and 
of  the  poor  as  well  served  as  those  of  the  rich? 
Are  the  schools  adequate  and  well  managed  and 
are  the  universities  enabled  to  maintain  the  high 
standards  set  before  the  war?  Is  a  just  and  help 
ful  policy  at  home  esteemed  of  more  importance 
than  a  vigorous  foreign  policy? 

I  hope  that  to  all  this  favorable  answers  can 
be  given,  but  I  know  that  war,  even  an  honorable 
war,  is  a  great  preventer  of  ideals.  In  every  war 
the  realities  are  sacrificed  for  visions,  and  after 
every  war  in  the  world  the  lot  of  the  people  for 
which  the  nation  exists  is  rendered  harder  and 
more  discouraging. 

Let  us  hope  that  with  the  well-earned  victory 
of  the  present  war,  Japan  will  suffer  as  few  as 
possible  of  victory's  inevitable  evils.  Let  us 
look  forward  to  the  return  of  the  "Old  Peace  with 
velvet-sandaled  feet,"  of  which  the  Japanese 
poets  tell  us,  the  Peace  without  which  no  nation 
may  know  welfare  or  progress. 


JAPANESE  STUDENTS 

BY  JAMES  B.  ANGELL 

President  Emeritus,  University  of  Michigan 

THE  presence  of  young  Japanese  in  American 
schools  and  colleges  has  had  a  marked  influence 
in  binding  Japan  and  the  United  States  together. 
The  experience  of  the  University  of  Michigan 
furnishes  a  striking  example. 

In  1873  the  first  Japanese  student  came  here  and 
remained  until  1876.  He  won  our  admiration  by 
his  brilliant  talents  and  won  our  affection  by  his 
attractive  character.  I  refer  to  M.  S.  Toyama. 
He  had  a  marked  career  as  an  educator  after  his 
return  home.  He  wrote  an  influential  tractate 
recommending  the  education  of  Japanese  women 
after  the  manner  of  American  colleges  for  women. 
Later  he  was  made  Dean  of  the  University  of 
Tokio  and  finally  he  was  appointed  Minister  of 
Education.  In  1886  this  University  conferred 
on  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Master  of  Arts. 

Several  other  Japanese  students  who  came 
here  subsequently  proved  to  be  superior  scholars 
and  have  held  very  honorable  positions  under 
their  government,  especially  in  the  conduct  of 

98 


Japanese  Students  99 

financial  affairs.  I  think  that  more  than  a  hundred 
have  been  here,  have  made  admirable  records  as 
scholars,  and  by  their  excellent  characters  and 
winsome  manners  have  made  the  most  favorable 
impressions  as  representatives  of  their  nation  on 
all  their  American  acquaintances.  What  was  true 
of  them  was  true,  so  far  as  I  have  had  oppor 
tunity  to  learn,  of  their  countrymen  generally, 
who  have  been  in  our  schools  of  learning. 

Through  these  Japanese  scholars  many  Ameri 
cans  have  been  led  to  cherish  the  most  friendly 
feelings  towards  their  countrymen.  On  visiting 
Japan  I  found,  like  other  Americans,  that  these 
students  have  carried  with  them  such  pleasant 
memories  of  their  life  here  that  they  awakened  in 
their  friends  and  acquaintances  there  that  kindly 
feeling,  which  has  expressed  itself  in  so  many  ways 
and  so  greatly  to  our  delight.  Among  the  chief 
agencies  in  cherishing  the  happiest  relations  be 
tween  the  United  States  and  Japan  we  may  justly 
and  gratefully  class  the  life  of  the  Japanese  stu 
dents  in  our  schools  of  higher  learning. 


THE  LESSON  FROM  CANADIAN- 
AMERICAN  RELATIONS 

BY  HARRY  PRATT  JUDSON 

President,  University  of  Chicago 

DURING  a  hundred  years  now  peace  has  been 
maintained  beween  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain.  The  frontier  between  the  United  States 
and  British  North  America  is  four  thousand  miles 
long.  Within  the  century  many  questions  have 
arisen  involving  the  determination  of  that  frontier 
under  the  various  treaties,  and  involving  also  the 
interests  of  the  United  States  and  of  Canada  re 
spectively.  These  questions  have  all  been  settled 
without  any  danger  of  hostilities  between  the 
two  countries.  The  essential  reason  for  such  a 
situation  lies  by  no  means  in  the  superior  wisdom 
or  virtue  of  the  two  nations  concerned,  but  simply 
in  these  facts : 

1.  Neither  nation  has  at  any  time  desired  to 
secure  any  unfair  advantage  over  the  other. 

2.  Each  nation  has  preferred  to  yield  its  own 
contention  on  the  disputed  point  rather  than  to 
have  hostilities  occur. 

Such  principles  may  readily  be  applied  to  the 

100 


Canadian- American  Relations :    JOE 

relations  between  the  United  States  and  Japan. 
If  the  best  thought  of  the  two  countries  insists 
that  neither  nation  shall  try  to  take  any  action 
which  might  be  in  any  way  unfair  or  injurious 
to  the  other,  and  if  each  nation  prefers  to  yield 
the  matter  in  contention  rather  than  to  have 
physical  collision  occur,  there  can  be  no  serious 
difficulties.  But  the  two  principles  should  be 
conjoined. 

Meanwhile  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  there 
are  individuals  and  groups  of  individuals  in  the 
two  countries  who  are  seeking  to  stir  up  trouble. 
They  should  not  be  permitted  to  succeed.  In 
every  case  due  weight,  and  no  more  than  due 
weight,  should  be  given  to  individual  utterances 
of  opinion.  There  are  people  in  the  United  States 
who  rather  vociferously  denounce  Japan.  Such 
people,  with  hardly  an  exception  here,  have  no 
weight  with  the  general  community.  It  may 
easily  be  that  there  is  a  similar  situation  in  Japan. 
Let  us  not  be  too  hasty  in  supposing  that  indi 
vidual  expressions  of  opinion,  in  countries  where 
free  speech  is  universal,  represent  in  fact  the 
national  sentiment. 

Japan  and  America  ought  always  to  work 
together. 


TWO  NATIONS  TEACHING  EACH  OTHER 

BY  SAMUEL  T.  BUTTON 

Professor  in  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University 

NATIONS,  like  individuals,  are  engaged  in  edu 
cating  themselves  and  in  educating  each  other. 
The  world  is  old,  but  nations  are  for  the  most  part 
young  and  have  much  to  learn.  The  present 
great  war  is  evidence  that  some  nations  have  not 
learned  their  lessons  well  and  have  not  helped 
each  other  to  learn  wisely. 

The  relation  which  Japan  bears  to  America  is 
unique.  She  has  been  generous  in  recent  years  in 
recognizing  what  she  calls  her  debt  to  us  for  aid, 
counsel,  and  instruction  given  her  during  the  years 
when  she  was  finding  her  place  among  the  great 
nations.  It  is,  of  course,  a  matter  of  pride  to  us 
that  she  so  regards  us.  If  Americans  were  to  be 
equally  ready  to  recognize  what  Japan  has  taught 
us,  the  balance  of  benefits  received  would  not  seem 
large  on  either  side. 

In  earlier  days  Japan  learned  from  America 
lessons  in  popular  education,  public  administration, 
banking,  and  the  uses  of  labor-saving  machi 
nery.  European  employees  helped  her  to  estab- 

102 


Teaching  Each  Other  103 

lish  various  industrial  undertakings  and  to  use 
her  natural  resources.  But  she  has  always  been 
outspoken  in  awarding  the  first  place  among  her 
teachers  to  America.  We  have  appreciated  this. 
One  who  has  been  a  teacher  is  glad  to  hear  words 
of  praise  from  his  pupil.  But  if  we  have  been  a 
teacher  of  Japan,  have  we  not  also  in  a  marked 
degree  been  her  student?  Is  not  Japan  teaching 
us  many  lessons  that  we  need  to  learn?  We  in 
dulge  in  much  pride  because  as  a  nation  we  have 
advanced  rapidly  in  intelligence,  wealth,  and  power, 
but  America  was  colonized  by  the  best  blood  of  Eu 
rope  and  we  have  had  as  our  heritage  a  boundless 
extent  of  fertile  land,  rich  mines,  and  mighty  forests 
with  a  variety  of  climate  suited  to  every  kind  of  pro 
duct.  Japan,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  country  where 
only  about. four-teeiLjDer  cent.jof^the^soil  is  arable, 
and  the  thrift,  skill,  and  care  of  her  peopTeliTagri- 
culture  teach  us  a  lesson  to  which  we  may  well 
give  heed.  It  is  even  a  rebuke  to  our  prodigality 
and  wastefulness,  reminding  us  that  were  we  to 
practice  the  most  common  principles  of  economy 
and  good  judgment,  poverty  need  not  be  known 
within  our  borders.  /  In  this  matter  of  intensive 
agriculture  we  are  like  pupils  in  the  kindergarten, 
and  Japan  is  a  good  teacher.) 

Again,  in  the  whole  field  of  health,  sanitation, 
and  the  prevention  of  infectious  diseases  we  are 
compelled  to  admire  and  emulate  Japan,  especially 
in  the  department  of  military  affairs.  Dr.  Seaman, 
after  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  hospital  ser- 


104  America  to  Japan 

vice  during  the  Russo-Japanese  War,  has  written  of 
their  "real  triumph"  in  making  an  unprecedented 
record,  not  only  in  caring  for  the  wounded  at  the 
front  and  in  the  hospitals,  but  in  dealing  with 
infectious  diseases  in  such  a  manner  that  only 
3.5  per  cent,  of  the  sickness  was  due  to  that  cause. 
This  is  a  significant  lesson  for  America,  not  be 
cause  we  are  to  become  a  military  nation,  but 
because  this  instance  of  rare  success  in  preventing 
sickness  is  of  universal  value,  good  for  every  home 
and  every  community. 

Another  lesson  that  Japan  has  taught  us  is  an 
aesthetic  one.  Her  art  is  great  and  noble,  not  in 
the  sense  with  which  we  view  Western  art,  but 
rather  as  an  expression  of  an  entire  people.  In  all 
painting,  carving,  architecture,  and  landscape 
design  there  is  a  truly  national  spirit,  a  delightful 
atmosphere  of  beauty  which  is  peculiar  to  Japan 
alone.  No  other  country  has  it  to  the  same  extent. 
America  has  not  been  an  unwilling  pupil  to  this 
lesson  of  beauty.  We  have  learned  to  use  and 
apply  these  canons  of  good  taste  which  Japan 
teaches.  Look  anywhere  you  will,  our  house  deco 
rations,  textiles,  and  even  the  dress  of  women 
are  strongly  influenced  by  Japanese  art.  In  this 
one  field  alone  we  owe  Japan  a  debt  of  gratitude. 

There  is  little  that  we  can  now  teach  Japan  in 
government,  diplomacy,  or  international  law. 
She  seeks  to  be  correct.  The  writer  heard  Baron 
Kaneko  say  that  every  army  corps  sent  to  the 
Russian  War  was  attended  by  an  expert  in  inter- 


Teaching  Each  Other  105 

national  procedure.  'Thus  there  were  few,  if  any, 
violations  of  international  law.  What  a  lesson 
for  some  of  the  Western  nations ! 

Japan  claims  to  have  learned  something  from 
America  respecting  elementary  and  higher  edu 
cation  and  her  professors  and  teachers  still  come 
in  large  numbers  to  inspect  our  methods,  but  we 
may  learn  much  from  a  system  which  is  at  once  the 
most  democratic  in  the  world  and  at  the  same 
time  the  most  perfectly  organized  and  adapted 
to  national  requirements. 

Baron  Kikuchi  in  his  excellent  work  on  Japanese 
education  attached  much  importance  to  the  Im 
perial  Rescript  of  1 890  and  the  two  cardinal  virtues 
upon  which  emphasis  is  laid,  namely  loyalty  to  the 
Emperor  and  filial  piety.  This  implies  that  morals 
have  a  supreme  place  not  merely  in  Japanese 
education  but  in  her  social  life.  Professor  Nitobe 
in  his  lectures  in  America  gave  numerous  instances 
where  Japanese  habits  and  customs  are  built  solidly 
on  moral  foundations.  That  is  a  sufficient  reason 
why  Japan  is  a  good  teacher,  for  she  is  old  and  has 
had  long  experience  in  testing  life  and  conduct. 

Thus  we  see  two  nations  teaching  each  other, 
and  the  broad  Pacific  cannot  make  the  teaching 
vague  or  shadowy.  As  the  years  pass,  the  one 
nation  potent  in  the  East  and  the  other  influential 
and  respected  in  the  West  will,  we  may  hope,  find 
many  common  fields  for  joint  action  in  the  interest 
of  humanity  and  world  peace.  That  great  states 
man,  Count  Okuma,  was  doubtless  moved  by  the 


io6  America  to  Japan 

same  sentiment  when  in  viewing  the  difficult  prob 
lem  in  California  he  said:  "Diplomacy,  or  law, 
or  statesmanship  will  not  work  in  this  case.  The 
power  of  Christianity,  the  teaching  of  the  brother 
hood  of  all  men  and  universal  peace  alone  will 
save  the  threatening  situation."  America  as  a 
nation  will  endeavor  to  remove  any  ill  feeling  or 
misunderstanding  that  may  have  sprung  from  the 
problem  of  immigration.  The  example  of  calm 
ness  and  patience  shown  by  both  nations  in  facing 
this  issue  is  the  best  possible  proof  of  mutual  con 
fidence  and  friendship.  In  the  East  and  in  the 
West  the  two  nations  must  place  international 
honor  and  justice  before  national  ambitions  and 
must  seek  to  lift  the  world  of  nations  to  a  higher 
plane  of  frankness,  respect,  and  cooperation. 


"AMERICA'S  FRIENDS " 

BY  JOHN  FRANKLIN  FORT 

Ex-Governor  of  New  Jersey 

IF  the  people  of  the  United  States  only  knew  the 
Japanese  people  and  their  leading  officials,  even 
as  little  as  I  do,  they  would  know  that  the  United 
States  has  no  better  friend  among  the  nations  of 
the  earth  than  Japan.  The  talk  of  hostilities 
between  the  United  States  and  Japan  is  the  veriest 
nonsense.  There  is  not  a  real  leader  in  Japan 
who  does  not  wish  for  the  closest  relations  of 
friendship  with  us,  and  they  are  absolutely  sin 
cere  in  it.  If  there  should  ever  come  trouble 
between  the  United  States  and  Japan,  it  will  be 
our  fault  and  of  our  seeking,  and  that  to  me  is 
unthinkable. 

One  of  the  largest  societies  in  Japan  is  the 
"America's  Friends  Society."  Viscount  Kaneko 
is  its  President.  He  was  educated  in  Amherst 
College.  He  speaks  of  Colonel  Roosevelt  as  his 
dear  friend.  He  speaks  our  language  with  a  wealth 
of  diction  and  elegance  that  would  do  credit  to 
the  most  scholarly  of  our  own  people. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  enjoy  an  acquaintance 
107 


io8  America  to  Japan 

with  the  late  Prince  Katsura,  thrice  Premier  of 
Japan,  and  the  late  Marquis  Komura,  her  Foreign 
Minister  in  1910-11.  They  were  warm  friends 
of  America.  So,  too,  Baron  Takahara,  the  ac 
complished  diplomat  who  was  twice  Ambassador 
of  Japan  to  the  United  States.  Likewise  is  Baron 
Shibusawa,  Baron  Takahashi,  Dr.  Soyeda,  Gover 
nor  Hattori  of  Kobe  (who  was  educated  at  Rut 
gers  in  New  Jersey),  Mr.  Asano,  President  of 
the  great  T.  K.  K.  transportation  line,  and  many 
others  of  their  like  and  kind  whom  I  have  the 
honor  to  know.  And  the  same  is  true,  I  have  no 
doubt,  in  a  very  high  degree  of  that  prince  among 
men,  Count  Okuma,  the  present  Premier  and 

/and  old  man  of  Japan. 
As  they  are  friends  of  the  United  States,  so  I 
Believe  it  is  true  of  our  leading  men  as  to  Japan. 
The  difficulty  with  us  is  that  the  "man  after  noto 
riety"  seems  always  to  get  a  hearing  here,  and 
gives  out  the  wrong  impression.  "Hobsonism" 
has  no  great  following,  but  it  does,  unfortunately, 
mislead  certain  people  here  at  home,  and  gives  a 
false  impression  of  our  Japanese  sentiment  and 
feeling./" 

The  people  of  America  are  in  general  very 
friendly  toward  Japan  and  it  is  equally  true  that 
the  Japanese  reciprocate  this  feeling.  Some  re 
cently  published  statements  of  Adachi  Kinnosuke 
are  worthy  of  our  attention.  What  Japan  wishes 
us  to  do,  he  declares,  is  to  build  a  navy  for  the 
Pacific,  to  fortify  Hawaii,  the  Philippines,  and 


" America's  Friends'*  109 

Guam.  Why?  Because  the  two  nations  would 
both  be  safer  and  have  stronger  assurance  of 
mutual  friendships  as  the  result  of  it.  Our  best 
customer  in  trade  in  the  Orient  is,  and  probably 
is  always  to  be,  Japan,  and  America  is  now  and 
must  hereafter  be  Japan's  best  customer  in  the 
West.  There  is  not  an  interest  in  the  Pacific  that 
is  not  mutual  between  America  and  Japan.  The 
uplift  of  the  one  is  the  strength  of  the  other.  All 
anti- Japanese  talk  and  legislation  is  a  crime  against 
both  nations.  The  United  States  should,  and  I 
believe  does,  dislike  it  more  than  Japan.  The 
Japanese  are  just  as  earnest,  just  as  honorable, 
and  just  as  strong  for  continued  good  relations 
between  the  United  States  and  Japan  as  are  we. 
They  are  adopting  our  habits  and  our  customs,  as 
far  as  they  think  wise,  and  are  teaching  our  lan 
guage  in  all  their  schools.  None  but  a  friend  does 
that.  There  cannot  be  given  a  single  reason  why 
the  United  States  should  not  do  everything  in  its 
power  to  increase  and  perpetuate  a  lasting  friend 
ship  with  the  Empire  of  Japan.  The  Japanese 
are  our  equals.  They  are  as  earnest  searchers 
after  truth  and  knowledge  as  we.  Their  lead 
ers  have  just  as  high  purposes  in  government 
and  industrial  matters  as  we.  They  are  quite 
as  open-minded  and  honorable.  Japan  has  no 
design  on  the  United  States  other  than  to  se 
cure  all  the  trade  and  friendship  she  can  from 
us,  and  we  are  not  honest  if  we  do  not  confess 
that  this  is  our  purpose  as  to  Japan.  This  pur- 


1 10  America  to  Japan 

pose  on  the  part  of  each,  honestly  striven  for, 
can  not  do  other  than  strengthen  the  bonds  of 
union  between  us, — a  consummation  devoutly  to 
be  desired. 


THOUGHTS  ABOUT  OUR  JAPANESE 
NEIGHBORS 

BY  EMERSON  McMILLIN 
Banker 

THE  true  progressives !  The  people  who,  during 
the  last  half  century,  have  shown  the  greatest 
aptitude  for  assimilating  the  best  ideas  and  prac 
tices  of  western  civilization.  They  need  not  be 
named;  all  know  who  they  are. 

After  the  great  evolution  was  consummated 
during  the  third  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
the  men  of  Japan  were  soon  in  every  country  of 
the  Western  Hemisphere;  in  every  community 
and  mingling  in  all  the  walks  of  life;  studying 
statecraft,  finance,  education,  social  ethics,  and 
local  customs,  and  winnowing  the  grain  from  the 
chaff, — garnering  only  the  best.  Turning  aside 
from  one  of  the  oldest  civilizations,  and  being  a 
discriminating,  almost  an  eclectic  people,  they 
were  not  burdened  by  the  superstitious  beliefs, 
and  the  baleful  customs  and  prejudices,  that 
hamper  efforts  for  advancement  of  other  people 
in  both  hemispheres.  Their  progress  is  evidenced 
in  their  stable  form  of  government,  unique  in  the 

in 


ii2  America  to  Japan 

fact  that  its  modernizing  trend  has  come  from 
above;  their  schools  of  mechanics,  schools  of 
science,  their  great  University,  their  mastery  of 
the  transportation  problem,  their  permanent 
provision  for  railroad  and  other  government  em 
ployees;  in  the  creation  of  their  army  and  their 
navy, — in  all  these,  master  minds  are  evidenced. 
Their  intense  seeking  after  knowledge  and  always 
for  the  best,  is  the  marvel  of  educators,  and  other 
well-informed  persons,  who  visit  this  progressive 
people. 

The  Japanese  are  our  nearest  neighbors  of  the 
Far  East — the  most  modern  great  nation  of  the 
Eastern, — as  ours  is  of  the  Western — Hemisphere. 
A  friendship,  frank  and  earnest,  should  bridge  the 
broad  Pacific.  Commerce,  the  prosperity  and 
happiness  of  the  two  peoples,  the  advancement  of 
civilization,  demand  no  less.  Are  there  barriers 
to  such  friendship  ?  Yes,  there  are  some  irritating, 
but  we  Americans  think  not  insurmountable,  nor 
even  serious,  barriers. 

The  American  people,  as  a  nation,  are  admirers 
and  earnest  friends  of  the  Japanese.  Locally, 
on  the  Pacific  Coast,  there  exist  social  and  in 
dustrial  prejudices.  The  Californian,  while  admit 
ting  the  Japanese  are  intelligent,  industrious,  and 
generally  law-abiding,  will  frankly  add,  "but  we 
do  not  want  them."  That  is  not  an  unnatural 
prejudice.  The  people  of  Japan  would  object  to 
having  an  influx  of  foreigners  to  their  Island 
Country  with  whom  the  Japanese  could  not  com- 


Our  Japanese  Neighbors  113 

pete  in  agriculture.  The  prejudice  of  the  Cali- 
fornian  is,  in  part  at  least,  complimentary  to  the 
Japanese. 

Some  of  the  Pacific  Coast  States  have  passed 
laws  that  discriminate  against  the  Japanese  peo 
ple,  laws  that  the  people  in  other  parts  of  our 
Union  believe  to  be  unfair.  The  validity  of 
these  laws  is  yet  to  be  determined.  If  sus 
tained  by  the  United  States  Court  it  will  be 
clear  that  our  people  have  been  within  their 
rights.  If  the  laws  be  annulled  the  people  of 
the  Pacific  Coast  will  some  day  bless  the  Court 
for  its  verdict. 

The  Japanese,  being  a  proud  and  high-spirited 
people,  should  not  try  to  live  in  a  locality  where 
public  sentiment  is  prejudiced.  Why  they  should 
desire  to  do  so,  when  the  people  of  so  many  other 
states  would  welcome  them,  is  not  in  evidence. 
If  warranted  in  basing  an  opinion  of  the  Japanese 
people,  in  general,  upon  the  intelligence  and  high 
standing  of  those  with  whom  I  have  come  in 
contact,  they  are  as  well  or  even  better  fitted  for 
citizenship,  than  any  foreign  people  who  seek 
homes  in  our  land.  Why  should  citizenship  be 
withheld  ?  Times  are  not  propitious.  Be  patient. 
All  thoughtful  men  will  agree  that  exterior  pressure 
will  not  remove  prejudice,  but  only  aggravate 
it.  The  wise  men  of  America  will  know  when 
times  are  propitious,  and  then  Japanese  citi 
zenship  will  be  granted,  and  the  localities  where 
Japanese  are  not  desired  will  grow  smaller  and 


1 14  America  to  Japan 

disappear  with  passing  years.  For  that  day  the 
men  from  Nippon  can  better  afford  to  wait 
than  the  American  people  can  afford  to  keep 
them  waiting. 


BUSINESS  ORGANIZATIONS 

BY  HON.   CHARLES  H.   SHERRILL 

Late  American  Minister  to  Argentina 

ONE  of  the  wisest  steps  yet  taken  by  that  wise 
nation,  Japan,  toward  bringing  home  to  Ameri 
cans  the  friendly  intentions  entertained  toward 
our  people  was  their  sending  on  a  tour  throughout 
the  United  States  a  group  of  leading  merchants 
representing  the  most  important  Japanese  cham 
bers  of  commerce.  We  would  do  well  to  consider 
why  this  step  was  taken  because  it  will  reveal 
certain  fundamental  facts  which  must  be  taken 
into  account  by  all  those  seeking  to  permanently 
remove  misunderstandings  between  the  two 
countries. 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  probably  no  class  of 
the  community  more  interested  in  the  preservation 
of  peaceful  conditions  than  is  the  business  man, 
for  he  well  knows  that  war  is  bad  business.  For 
many  years  we  have  been  accustomed  to  see  busi 
ness  men  in  different  localities  banding  themselves 
together  into  such  non-political  organizations  as 
chambers  of  commerce,  boards  of  trade,  etc.,  in 
order  jointly  to  benefit  their  communities  in  ways 


n6  America  to  Japan 

which  severally  they  could  not  hope  to  achieve. 
It  is  only  recently  that  we  Americans  have  real 
ized  the  advantage  to  be  gained  by  grouping  all 
these  commercial  organizations  into  one  national 
chamber  of  commerce,  so  that  business  could 
have  a  mouthpiece  through  which  it  could  speak 
nationally. 

European  nations  have  long  realized  this  ele 
ment  of  strength,  both  defensive  and  offensive, 
which  lay  ready  to  the  hand  of  the  business  world. 
We  at  last  realize  that  too  long  have  we  allowed 
our  governmental  representatives  to  legislate  for 
us  without  giving  ear  to  the  views  of  the  very  men 
from  whom  they  receive  their  delegated  power. 
So  much  for  what  chambers  of  commerce  can  do 
for  us  within  our  own  borders.  It  remained  for 
Japan  to  teach  us  that  a  very  useful  embassy  of 
peace  and  better  relations  is  a  group  of  business 
men  sent  out  with  the  authority  of  their  home 
chambers  of  commerce  and  bearing  greetings  of 
cordial  understanding  to  business  men  in  another 
country. 

In  response  to  the  invitation  to  contribute  some 
thing  to  this  sheaf  of  friendly  greetings  from  Ameri 
cans  to  Japanese,  there  is  nothing  I  can  say  which 
seems  to  me  more  important,  and  certainly  nothing 
which  touches  me  more  deeply,  than  to  point  out 
the  excellent  effects  produced  and  produceable 
by  such  interchanges  between  responsible  business 
men  of  the  two  countries  as  evidenced  by  the 
delightfully  successful  visit  of  the  Japanese  cham- 


Business  Organizations  117 

bers  of  commerce  representatives  to  our  shores. 
Such  visits  can  now  be  reciprocated  by  us  in  a 
much  broader  and  therefore  more  useful  manner 
since  the  establishment  among  us  of  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce  of  the  United  States,  and  I  am  sure 
I  can  say  for  its  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations, 
that  such  delegations  of  business  men  are  heartily 
appreciated,  and  warmly  approved  by  our  organi 
zation. 

Upon  this  subject  of  fruitful  reciprocity  of 
acquaintance  and  business  ideas  one  could  readily 
speak  at  great  length,  but  without  in  any  wise 
adding  to  the  supreme  value  of  this  new  instru 
ment  of  international  goodwill,  for  which,  as  well 
as  for  many  other  similar  ideas,  we  have  to  thank 
the  practical  ideality  of  our  friends  across  the 
Pacific. 


THE  MESSAGE  OF  BIG  BUSINESS 

BY  JOSEPH  I.   C.   CLARKE 

Editor,  Special  Correspondent 

SENTIMENT  is  not  implied  in  matters  of  trade, 
but  long  successful  trading  does  make  for  friendly 
sentiment.  It  may  not  be  as  a  trader,  big  or  little, 
that  we  like  to  see  our  country  pictorially  personi 
fied,  but  where  trading  interests  loom  large  between 
two  peoples  there  is  the  best  possible  basis  for 
mutual  respect  and  confidence.  It  is  with  a  fairly 
wide  knowledge  of  the  business  man  of  America 
that  I  address  the  business  man  of  Japan,  and 
assure  him  that  the  world  is  big  enough  to  allow 
both  of  us  to  live  in  harmony.  Business  is  ex 
change  with  profit;  where  there  is  no  profit  it  is 
not  business.  It  may  be  added  that  where  there 
is  not  profit  on  both  sides  exchange  eventually 
ceases.  In  the  belief  that  America's  trade  with 
Japan  is  on  the  basis  of  mutual  profit,  and  that 
its  extension  is  most  desirable,  I  am  writing 
these  few  friendly  words.  Over  the  facade  of  the 
Stock  Exchange  in  London  one  may  read  the  motto, 
"Each  land  requires  what  other  climes  produce," 
which  might  be  extended  to  read  as  of  civilized 

118 


The  Message  of  Big  Business     119 

lands,  for  it  is  with  the  advance  of  civilization 
that  those  new  wants  are  developed  in  the  home 
land  which  only  the  products  of  other  lands  can 
satisfy.  The  limited  range  of  domestic  products 
does  not  suffice  to  meet  growing  tastes  and  greater 
means,  and  as  the  latter  advance  the  demand  for 
the  extraneous  in  the  end  takes  commercial  toll 
of  the  entire  world.  No  one  knows  better  than 
the  business  man  that  this  cannot  be  a  wholly 
one-sided  transaction.  It  cannot  always  consist 
of  an  exchange  of  gold  against  produce  or  manu 
facture  :  that  would  be  too  costly.  The  importing 
nation  will  expect  to  sell  of  its  products  to  the 
outside  world,  and  for  choice  to  the  nation  from 
whom  it  buys  the  most,  proving  that  we  cannot 
go  far  from  the  primitive  barter  which  marked  the 
first  attempts  at  business  in  the  world. 

In  the  modern  story  of  Japan  the  rise  of  the 
business  man  has  been  so  remarkable  that  it  is  a 
world's  wonder.  In  our  own  country  the  busi 
ness  development  of  the  last  thirty  years  has  been 
also  great,  bringing  about  huge  industrial  and 
mercantile  combinations  which  in  their  massing 
have  taken  the  title  of  "big  business,"  while  the 
individuals  who  lead  in  them  have  been  popularly 
dubbed  "captains  of  industry."  And  so  long  as 
the  stimulus  of  individual  effort  may  be  applied 
to  international  trade,  it  is  largely  between  the 
great  concerns  that  business  must  be  done.  At 
any  rate  they  set  the  pace,  and  make  the  con- 


120  America  to  Japan 

ditions  of  package,  price,  and  credit  which  the 
smaller  trader  must,  within  certain  limits,  follow. 
From  American  business  men  it  is  safe  to  register 
the  assurance  of  entire  goodwill  to  Japan.  Com 
merce  between  the  two  countries  grows.  We 
want  their  beautiful  silk  yarn ;  we  drink  their  tea ; 
they  need  our  fine  cotton — to  name  important 
staples  occupying  the  energies  of  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  workers  in  both  countries.  It  is 
quite  true  that,  as  Japan's  talent  for  manufacture 
develops,  her  merchants  and  salesmen  will  furnish 
ours  with  keen  competition  in  other  markets,  but 
these  historic  incidents  of  trade  have  a  fashion  of 
settling  themselves  in  ways  which  at  the  first 
glance  are  not  clear  to  the  unbusinesslike,  but 
which  experience  infallibly  denotes.  Superior 
conditions  in  one  branch,  inferior  products  in 
another,  decide  that  for  one  country  the  profit  in 
trade  shall  be  found  in  one  subdivision  of  a  busi 
ness  rather  than  another.  We,  for  instance, 
manufacture  vast  quantities  of  extremely  varied 
cotton  goods;  Japan's  cotton  manufactures  are 
widening  in  range  of  fabric  and  increasing  rapidly 
in  volume.  Both  compete  in  Asia.  It  is  obvious 
to  impartial  observers  that  Japan's  sales  will  take 
the  place  of  ours  in  certain  grades,  because  of 
favoring  conditions  in  labor  and  shortness  of  haul. 
Our  cotton  men  must  seek  to  make  the  excellence 
of  other  fabrics  so  marked  that  they  will  command 
their  place  in  the  markets  that  have  been  lost. 
It  is  the  give  and  take  of  business  since  the  world 


The  Message  of  Big  Business     121 

began,  and  it  has  lines  of  compensation  in  the 
modern  world  which  were  lacking  in  the  olden 
times.  One  of  these  is  the  possibility  of  the 
skilled  workers  and  the  men  of  capital  of  one 
country  combining  their  art  and  their  money  with 
those  of  the  competing  country.  It  was  possible, 
for  instance,  for  one  of  our  great  electric  companies 
to  join  forces  and  funds  with  a  Japanese  electric 
company  which  had  begun  to  supply  the  city  of 
Tokio  with  light.  A  great  English  concern  in  the 
steel  business  did  the  same  with  a  Japanese  steel 
company,  and  in  both  cases  the  result  has  been 
higher  efficiency  based  on  great  experience  and 
greater  profits.  And  these  are  only  beginnings. 
The  cotton  manufacturers  of  America  who  may 
feel  the  pinch  of  competition  have  a  like  course 
open  to  them.  Not  one  of  the  really  going  Japan 
ese  corporations  engaged  in  making  cotton  cloths 
or  yarns  would  look  askance  at  a  fair  offer  of 
American  capital  and  skill  to  swell  the  volume  of 
output  and  increase  the  profits.  Large  as  the 
latter  are  in  proportion  to  the  business  done,  they 
could  be  larger  still  in  the  economies  brought  into 
action  by  the  last  word  in  machinery  and  organi 
zation.  What  is  true  of  cotton  is  true  of  steel. 

The  introduction  of  the  American  sewing 
machine  into  Japan  worked  a  revolution  in  the 
making  up  of  her  textile  goods ;  the  splendid  service 
installed  by  the  Standard  Oil  Co.  has  given  light 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century  in  Japan  in  regions  where 
the  luxury  of  a  light  after  dark  was  hitherto  un- 


122  America  to  Japan 

known.  As  an  instance  of  an  international  union 
of  working  forces  one  can  scarcely  find  a  better 
than  that  very  Standard  Oil  enterprise  through 
the  East,  where  almost  the  entire  working  force 
of  employees — clerks  and  salesmen — is  made  up 
of  natives  of  Japan.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
great  interior  cities  and  provinces  of  China  where 
native  Chinamen  carry  on  the  work. 

From  another  point  of  view  the  solidarity  of 
trade  interests  appears — namely,  the  fact  that  no 
matter  how  great  may  be  a  nation's  force  in  manu 
facture,  there  is  always  a  place  for  foreign  goods, 
pottery  for  example,  even  in  the  cheapest  lines. 
The  fine  and  the  exceptional  make  their  own  way 
in  all  countries  where  good  money  and  good  taste 
are  at  command.  The  finer  Japanese  pottery 
keeps  abreast  of  the  very  best  in  all  lands.  But 
I  have  noticed  that  the  cheaper  articles  made 
by  the  thousand  in  Nagoya  have  a  steady  market 
in  the  United  States,  because  manufactured  under 
easily  marketable  conditions. 

The  message,  therefore,  of  Big  Business  in 
America  to  the  growing  business  of  Japan  is  one 
of  entire  friendliness,  based  first  of  all  on  the 
gallant  industrial  struggle  Japan  is  making.  There 
is  a  chivalry  in  business  in  spite  of  the  general 
belief  that  business  is  in  the  same  class  with  the 
savage  whose  spear  "knew  no  brother."  The 
knowledge,  too,  that  Japan  holds  firmly  by  the 
4 'open  door"  policy  in  China,  the  policy  of  equal 
opportunity  for  the  world's  trade  in  the  East,  has 


The  Message  of  Big  Business     123 

added  to  the  kindly  feeling.  With  the  older  civi 
lizations  of  Europe  ravaged  by  a  tremendous, 
exhausting  war,  it  is  well,  too,  for  those  countries 
which  are  spared  the  experience  of  the  war-blight 
on  their  shores  to  draw  closer  together  in  the  bonds 
of  peace.  Luckily  for  Japan  her  share  in  the 
conflict  has  been  limited  to  outside  efforts,  and  is 
fairly  concluded  in  honor  and  was  conducted  with 
fine  regard  for  the  humanities.  As  a  rival  for 
trade  she  is  no  less  welcome  than  another,  and  to 
be  preferred  to  some  that  it  might  be  invidious 
to  name.  As  a  customer  she  is  worthy  of  the 
highest  appreciation  and  worth  intimate  study  of 
her  needs.  As  a  seller,  Japanese  courtesy  makes 
her  always  a  pleasant  face  to  greet  in  warehouse 
or  counting-room.  Concluding  let  me  say  that, 
in  the  possible  combinations  here  outlined,  there 
is  the  foundation  of  a  still  closer  relation. 


TO  JAPANESE  CHILDREN 

BY  FANNIE  CALDWELL  MACAULAY 

("Frances  Little")  Author 

FOR  some  years  I  was  Principal  of  Kindergartens 
in  the  Girls'  School  at  Hiroshima,  Japan.  This 
position  brought  me  in  contact  with  hundreds  of 
children  of  all  classes,  in  whom  I  found  one  com 
mon  trait:  the  unquenchable  desire  for  learning. 
From  the  small  aristocrat  brought  by  her  own 
servant  in  a  luxurious  jinricksha,  to  the  little 
elder  sister  poorly  fed  and  with  the  last  baby  of 
the  family  strapped  to  her  thinly  clad  back,  the 
yearning  for  knowledge  was  uppermost. 

Eager  interest  on  the  part  of  the  student  warms 
the  heart  of  the  teacher  in  kindergarten  or  higher 
grades,  and  the  responsive  hosts  that  passed 
through  the  Hiroshima  yochins  left  me  with  an 
affectionate  interest  in  the  youth  of  Japan  that 
time  has  not  lessened,  nor  ever  will. 

I  believe  that  in  no  other  country  do  such  cordial 
relations  exist  between  teacher  and  pupil  as  in 
the  Mikado's  Empire,  especially  if  the  instructor  is 
of  another  nation.  This  in  itself  is  an  inspiration 
to  both.  But  experience  and  observation  from 

124 


To  Japanese  Children  125 

all  sources  prove  that  the  great  handicaps  to  the 
student,  the  obstructions  in  his  road  to  the  wide 
learning  he  so  craves,  are  the  exclusive  use  of 
the  ideograph  in  writing,  and  unfamiliarity  with 
the  English  language.  No  looker-on  will  deny  the 
skill  of  a  Japanese  child  with  fudi  and  charcoal. 
Nor  the  facility  of  hand  and  eye  required  to  obtain 
the  artistic  results  in  creating  the  intricate  word 
pictures.  But  what  child  does  not  suffer  unneces 
sary  strain,  mentally  and  physically,  in  the  weary 
hours  spent  in  learning  to  give  the  soft  brush  the 
proper  stroke?  What  Japanese  man  or  woman 
who  knows  only  the  Chinese  character  and  what 
it  stands  for,  does  not  realize  in  later  life  the  one 
sided  memory  training  it  brings  and  how  limited 
are  the  possibilities  of  their  commercial,  social, 
and  international  life.  In  half  the  time  and  with 
far  less  mental  tax  they  could  have  easily  com 
manded  the  forty  elementary  sounds  of  the  al 
phabet.  Had  the  educational  system  made  more 
use  of  the  Romaji  and  less  of  the  difficult  ideograph 
they  would  have  been  far  on  the  highway  to  a 
broader  education.  How  often  have  I  seen  this 
need  drop  like  a  thick  veil  between  the  child  and 
his  desire  for  friends  and  comradeship  with  those 
of  other  nations,  in  play  and  work. 

One  might  say  the  greatest  wish  of  every  boy 
and  girl  in  Japan  is  to  know  of  foreign  countries, 
peoples,  and  customs.  Their  curiosity  in  these 
subjects  is  insatiable,  their  interest  makes  the 
telling  of  history  or  story  delightful.  But  moun- 


126  America  to  Japan 

tains  of  difficulty  shut  them  in  narrow  valleys  of 
learning  and  attainment  if  they  know  only  their 
own  language  and  writing. 

Wonders  have  been  accomplished  in  the  transla 
tion  of  hundreds  of  useful  books  into  Japanese, 
but  there  are  thousands  more  of  vital  interest 
untouched  and  unknown.  This  hides  from  a 
large  number  of  the  youth  of  Japan,  not  only  a 
great  wonderful  outside  world,  but  limits  his 
capacity  for  a  clear  understanding  of  his  relation 
to  it  as  well  as  to  his  own  splendid  country. 

International  misunderstandings  come  as  fre 
quently  from  differences  in  languages  as  differ 
ences  in  politics  or  traditions.  The  Japanese 
language  with  its  many  difficulties  is  ofttimes 
beautiful  in  form  and  expression — but  it  is  useful 
only  in  Japan.  English,  though  less  poetical  and 
plainer  of  form,  is  spoken  universally. 

So  the  message  I  would  send  to  my  little  friends 
across  the  blue  water  is  this :  For  progress  we  must 
have  Peace.  Peace  comes  by  perfect  understand 
ing,  and  understanding  grows  by  a  common  lan 
guage.  Unless  the  world  falls  to  pieces,  Japan 
and  America  must  always  be  neighbors,  and  neigh 
bors  must  be  friends.  Perfect  yourselves  in  the 
English  language,  as  well  as  your  own,  that  you 
may  be  able  to  choose  your  own  reading,  do  your 
own  thinking,  and  help,  by  your  wisdom,  to  swing 
the  balance  to  the  side  of  peaceful  progress  and 
happy  living  in  both  countries. 

With  your  gifts  of  unwearying  pursuit  of  knowl- 


To  Japanese  Children  127 

edge,  your  tireless  patience  in  attaining  your 
purpose,  your  ability  to  use  what  you  have  gained, 
it  is  in  your  power  to  make  the  land  of  your  Em 
peror  the  most  enlightened  of  countries,  and  your 
privilege,  as  well  as  mine,  to  aid  in  forging  un 
breakable  bonds  of  everlasting  friendship  between 
two  great  nations — Japan  and  America. 


AN  APPRECIATION 

BY  DAVID  JAYNE  HILL 

Diplomat,  Historian 

MY  acquaintance  with  Japan  is  limited  to  a 
long  intimacy  and  friendship  with  several  dis 
tinguished  gentlemen  with  whom  I  have  been 
closely  associated  in  diplomatic  relations,  either 
as  an  officer  of  the  Department  of  State  at  Wash 
ington  or  as  a  colleague  at  several  diplomatic 
posts.  While  I  know  nothing  personally  of 
public  sentiment  in  the  Japanese  Empire,  I  feel 
confident  from  my  intercourse  with  these  repre 
sentatives  of  the  Japanese  Imperial  Government 
that  we  possess  in  their  persons  very  strong  bonds 
of  sympathy  and  understanding  between  our 
countries;  and  that,  furnishing  as  they  do  the 
points  of  contact  between  the  United  States  and 
Japan,  we  may  feel  a  firm  assurance  that  these  two 
great  countries  will  always  be  able  to  maintain  and 
perpetuate  the  relations  of  amity  which  from  the 
happiest  beginnings  have  existed  between  them. 
If  many  years  of  unbroken  moderation,  courtesy, 
and  sincere  effort  on  their  part  to  create  perfect 
comprehension  and  mutual  confidence  between 

128 


An  Appreciation  129 

the  two  nations  are  to  be  counted  as  significant 
of  their  aims  and  purposes,  I  think  we  may  be 
assured  that  our  friendship  may  be  as  lasting  as  it 
has  been  sincere  and  cordial. 


THE  MEETING  GROUND  OF  BUSINESS 
AND  PHILANTHROPY1 

BY  ELGIN  R.  L.  GOULD,  PH.D.,  LL.D. 

Author,  Philanthropist,  Publicist 

"THE  Meeting  Ground  of  Business  and  Phi 
lanthropy — a  noble  theme  for  discussion,"  I 
hear  some  remark,  but  is  there  such  a  place? 
"Business  is  business, "  and  philanthropy  is  what? 
— The  pastime  of  a  few  well-meaning  rich,  the 
shibboleth  of  reformers,  the  dream  of  exalted 
mystics.  Surely  practical  minds  need  give  no 
heed,  or,  at  best,  a  passing  thought,  to  such 
dreams  and  pastimes. 

My  own  college  days,  a  generation  back  in  the 
reckoning  of  time,  witnessed  the  major  influence 
of  physical  and  natural  science.  Men  of  high 
reputation  asserted  belief  in  the  spontaneous  origin 
of  life,  the  chemical  production  of  thought,  and 

1  Though  the  word  "Japan"  does  not  appear  in  this  article, 
the  article  itself  is  meant  as  a  message  to  Japan.  Japan's  prob 
lems  of  to-day  in  the  social-economic  field  are  not  yet  similar  to 
those  which  press  for  solution  in  the  United  States.  Some  day, 
however,  she  will  probably  face  a  similar  situation,  and  the  pur 
pose  of  the  writer  has  been  to  suggest  the  principles  \vhich 
should  dominate  their  wise  solution. 

130 


Business  and  Philanthropy        131 

an  ultimate  material  basis  for  all  philosophy. 
Religion  seemed  to  them  a  comfortable  supersti 
tion,  theology  a  discarded  by-product,  and  im 
mortality  a  socialized  aspiration.  Now  the  official 
spokesman  of  the  British  scientific  world,  Sir 
Oliver  Lodge,  expresses  the  conviction  that  "gen 
uine  religion  has  its  roots  deep  down  in  the  heart 
of  humanity  and  in  the  reality  of  things";  that 
truth  takes  on  spiritual  as  well  as  material  forms. 
Contrast,  if  you  will,  his  confident  belief  in  per 
sonality  after  death  with  the  dictum  of  a  phi 
losopher  of  the  last  generation :  ' '  Gone  to  eternal 
silence;  gone  to  pathetic  dust!"  Continuity  of 
life,  continuity  of  spiritual  power,  continuity  of 
religion  as  the  greatest  dynamic  force  in  organized 
society — these,  not  the  fathomed  mysteries  of  the 
material  universe,  wonderful  though  they  be,  are 
the  efficient  constants  in  man's  unending  progress. 

And  we  may  liken  the  pursuit  of  business  in  the 
human  world  to  the  development  of  physical  and 
natural  science  in  the  order  of  the  known  universe. 
Both,  as  ends  in  themselves,  are  incomplete,  but 
both  furnish  the  solid  bases  of  human  progress,  the 
"stepping  stones"  to  higher  things. 

I  do  not  intend  to  make  out  a  case  for  gift 
philanthropy,  that  is,  charity.  I  believe  that  we 
are  utilizing  this  powerful  social  agent  far  too 
much,  and  to  the  detriment  of  giver,  dispenser, 
and  recipient.  To  extend  the  field  of  charity 
much  beyond  the  care  of  the  helpless  and  for 
education  is  to  encourage  distorted  views  of  social 


132  America  to  Japan 

trusteeship,  and  to  create  poverty  of  self-help. 
Human  conservation  and  social  welfare  should  be 
founded  generally  upon  the  principles  of  cooper 
ation  of  resources,  participation  in  benefits,  and  a 
final  joint  result  expressed  definitely  in  terms  of 
financial  profit,  and  indefinitely,  though  none  the 
less  real,  in  ethical  betterment. 

The  meeting  ground  of  business  and  philan 
thropy  is  a  broad  plane.  Its  spacious  domain 
gives  hospitality  to  efforts  and  agencies  classified 
as  productive,  preventive,  and  uplifting.  Let  us 
take  counsel  here  upon  only  three  of  these,  but  all 
of  prime  importance. 

Housing  the  plain  people  in  large  cities — I  speak 
of  it  most  often  as  giving  the  worthy  poor  a 
chance  to  live  decently — is  the  most  fundamental 
thing  in  social  organization.  The  earliest  con 
spicuous  expositor  of  this  doctrine  was  Earl 
Shaftesbury,  who  had  been  profoundly  moved  by 
the  disclosures  of  Charles  Dickens.  That  great 
novelist  and  greater  humanitarian  instituted  a 
renaissance  of  social  truth  when  he  wrote  in  his 
preface  to  the  Pickwick  Papers,  "the  universal 
diffusion  of  the  means  of  decency  and  health  is  as 
much  the  right  of  the  poorest  of  the  poor  as  they 
are  necessary  to  the  safety  of  the  rich  and  of  the 
State." 

Cardinal  Manning  once  said,  "Domestic  life 
creates  a  nation. "  The  corollary  is  just  as  true — 
the  lack  of  it  will  unmake  any  nation.  Wherever 
investigations  have  been  made,  social  ills  have 


Business  and  Philanthropy        133 

been  found  largely  concentrated  in  those  parts  of 
populous  communities  where  housing  is  of  the 
poorest  sort.  Strong-willed,  self-respecting  people 
may  conquer  the  influences  of  environment,  but 
the  great  mass,  beset  by  things  which  drag  down, 
inevitably  yield  to  the  influence  of  surroundings. 
That  which  most  determines  the  trend  of  life  is 
the  home.  It  is  the  character  unit  of  society,  and 
just  as  we  have  good  homes  or  the  opposite  shall 
we  have  citizenship  on  the  side  of  righteousness 
or  the  reverse. 

Consider  this  question  for  a  moment  as  it 
affects  general  health.  Lord  Beaconsfield  once 
said,  "The  health  of  the  people  is  the  foundation 
upon  which  their  whole  happiness  and  their  whole 
prosperity  depend. "  Investigators  like  Sir  James 
Paget  have  found  that  the  money  loss  through  bad 
health  which  is  purely  preventable,  that  which  was 
brought  on  through  unfavorable  living  conditions, 
amounted  yearly  to  many  millions  of  dollars.  The 
one  valuable  thing  that  the  working  man  has  is 
his  time.  Loss  of  time  is  a  loss  which  he  can 
never  make  up,  and  so,  to  the  masses  of  the  people, 
health  is  of  the  greatest  importance.  Then  we 
have  the  evil  of  drunkenness.  Is  it  a  mere  chance 
that  one  finds  those  areas  where  the  worst  housing 
obtains  to  be  also  the  regal  domain  of  liquordom? 
Is  it  a  mere  chance  that  where  people  are  herded 
together,  as  in  some  parts  of  New  York  City,  a 
thousand  to  the  acre,  there  emerge  whole  bat 
talions  of  the  immoral  and  other  ne'er-do-wells? 


134  America  to  Japan 

Or,  can  you  wonder  that,  under  the  regime  of 
human  herding, — I  have  mentioned  New  York, 
but  that  is  not  the  only  city  of  which  these  things 
are  more  or  less  true, — the  growing  lad  readily 
absorbs  the  philosophy  of  the  streets  and  is  early 
initiated  into  petty  crime?  Still  less  ought  we  to 
be  surprised  that  the  daughters  of  slumdom,  de 
prived  of  a  just  heritage,  wronged  and  wronging, 
pass  the  short  measure  of  their  days,  a  menace, 
yes,  but  also  a  reproach  to  our  neglect.  I  might 
go  on,  but  cumulative  citation  is  not  necessary  to 
prove  that  proper  provision  for  home  life  is  the 
most  fundamental  of  all  questions  relating  to 
human  environment.  ._, 

How,  then,  shall  we  approach  the  solution  of  this 
question  of  decent  homes  for  the  worthy  poor? 
First,  let  us  cultivate  an  attitude  of  mind  in  which 
one  recognizes  the  existence  of  a  problem,  and  that 
it  is  one's  duty  to  do  something  about  it.  See  that 
proper  building  and  health  laws  and  municipal 
ordinances  are  made  and  enforced — remembering 
always  that  enforcement  is  more  difficult  than 
making.  Not  only  must  the  houses  of  the  future 
be  suitable,  but  those  places  in  which  housing  is 
irreparably  bad  must  be  obliterated.  "What,  at 
public  expense?"  Yes,  even  if  one  gets  nothing 
back  but  the  land  value,  and  even  though  capitali 
zation  of  the  rental  value  compels  an  exorbitant 
condemnation  price.  Better  bear  the  penalty 
than  continue  the  sin,  for  nothing  costs  like  bad 
housing. 


Business  and  Philanthropy        135 

Then  organize,  just  as  for  any  other  business 
purpose,  companies  to  provide  good  housing  for 
the  poor.  There  is  plenty  of  precedent.  Such 
provision  has  been  made  on  a  liberal  scale  in 
London.  Fifteen  years  ago,  I  know,  upward  of 
$150,000,000  had  been  invested  for  this  end,  and 
eighty-five  per  cent,  of  all  the  money  was  paying 
strictly  commercial  dividends.  In  New  York  there 
has  been  invested  up  to  date  at  least  $10,000,000, 
of  which  $7,000,000  comes  from  the  enterprise  in 
which  I  am  specially  interested — the  City  and 
Suburban  Homes  Company.  All  that  money  is 
paying  a  fair  rate  of  dividend.  So  one  can  truth 
fully  say  the  solution  of  the  problem  is  easy. 
Philanthropy  and  four  per  cent,  as  a  combination 
is  surpassed  only  in  sweetness  by  philanthropy 
and  a  higher  per  cent. 

The  second  division  in  this  field  of  business  and 
philanthropy  united  to  which  we  may  turn  our 
attention  is  provision  for  the  worthy  wage-earner 
and  others,  where  the  need  of  the  loan  is  apparent, 
of  opportunity  for  borrowing  small  sums  of  money 
without  the  necessity  of  submitting  to  the  extor 
tion  of  unscrupulous  money-lenders,  but  at  rates 
which  are  reasonable  to  the  borrower  and  fairly 
remunerative  to  capital.  It  will  enable  the 
wage-earner  to  secure  such  moneys  largely  upon 
the  faith  of  endorsements  and  guarantees  and 
without  the  often  embarrassing  and  burdensome 
requirement  of  a  pledge  of  chattels  or  other  val 
uables  as  collateral  security  for  repayment.  It 


136  America  to  Japan 

will  also  provide  opportunity  for  the  systematic 
investment  of  small  savings  bearing  a  higher  rate 
of  interest  than  is  otherwise  feasible,  and  afford 
a  basis  for  securing  credit  and  encouraging  thrift. 

Carrying  out  the  foregoing  purposes,  in  addition 
to  these  immediate  benefits,  will,  I  believe,  operate 
to  put  an  end  to  much  needless  and  injurious 
agitation  and  resulting  dissatisfaction  concerning 
financial  and  industrial  conditions  generally  and 
foster  a  more  intelligent  and  mutually  advantage 
ous  understanding  between  labor  and  capital, 
between  what  our  radical  friends  choose  to  dis 
tinguish  as  "the  haves"  and  "the  have-nots." 

Utilization  of  credit  facilities,  as  lenders  and 
borrowers,  with  easy  installment  repayments, 
teach  invaluable  lessons  of  personal  thrift,  and 
give  plain  people  a  wholesome  social  outlook. 
They  are  made  to  feel  that  they  have  a  stake  in 
organized  society.  An  impulse  is  created  to  save 
for  the  benefit  of  one's  less  fortunate  or  as  yet 
unreflecting  fellows.  Such  an  impulse,  born  in 
necessity,  nurtured  in  fair-dealing,  and  flowering 
in  philanthropy  and  justice,  accounts  as  nothing 
else  accounts  for  the  success  of  the  "Banca  Popo- 
lare"  of  Italy,  founded  by  Luzzatti,  on  this  plan, 
in  1868  with  $5600  of  paid-in  capital.  Three  of 
these  banks  in  1912  loaned  to  small  borrowers  of 
the  kind  above  mentioned  more  than  one  billion 
dollars,  with  losses  of  six  tenths  of  one  per  cent. 

The  third  division  of  our  theme  deals  with  what 
may  be  called  "social  insurance."  Not  much 


Business  and  Philanthropy        137 

attention  has  been  paid  to  it  until  recently  in 
English-speaking  countries,  though  it  has  been 
incorporated  for  more  than  a  generation  in  the 
social-economic  policy  of  several  continental  Euro 
pean  states.  The  underlying  idea  is  not  so  much 
the  abolition  of  poverty  as  its  avoidance.  In  our 
present  treatment  of  social  misfortune  we  rarely 
distinguish  between  a  man  who,  in  spite  of  hard 
work  and  misfortune,  becomes  handicapped  in 
life's  race,  and  the  idle,  the  drunken,  and  hope 
less  inefficient s.  We  have  not  offered  facilities 
for  the  avoidance  of  poverty.  So,  the  socialistic 
agitator  and  others  of  the  anti-social  group  are 
left  to  inculcate  the  idea  that  a  social  system  can 
be  devised  in  which  poverty  shall  be  abolished. 
Is  it  not  our  business  to  offer  facilities,  with  govern 
mental  cooperation  sometimes,  to  help  the  people 
to  find  means  for  the  avoidance  of  poverty?  In 
Germany  practicable  schemes  have  been  more 
completely  developed  than  anywhere  else.  There 
we  find  in  operation  insurance  against  accidents, 
in  which  the  risk  of  the  various  occupations  has 
been  actuarially  worked  out  and  where  the  main 
contribution  comes  from  the  industry  and  only  the 
minor  portion  from  the  wage-earner;  insurance 
against  sickness,  in  which  the  major  contribution 
is  made  by  the  wage-earner  and  the  lesser  by  the 
employer;  old-age  pensions  in  which  contribu 
tions  are  made  equally  by  the  employer  and  em 
ployee  with  an  increment  added  by  the  State, 
leaving  the  aged  worker  an  opportunity  to  retire 


138  America  to  Japan 

and  spend  the  last  years  of  his  life  in  a  self-respect 
ing  position.  These  present  fundamental  and 
tangible  benefits.  Recently  has  come  the  sugges 
tion  that  there  should  be  insurance  against  unem 
ployment.  That,  of  course,  is  a  difficult  matter, 
because  it  raises  new  questions.  But  if  actuaries 
have  worked  out  a  sound  basis  of  insurance 
against  burglary,  and  against  the  loss  of  rent,  it 
should  be  possible  to  find  a  basis  for  insurance 
against  unemployment. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  outline  the  relation  be 
tween  industrial  efficiency  and  a  contented  mind. 
Greater  stability  of  service  may  also  be  looked  for. 
These  too  afford  a  splendid  return  on  humanity 
regarding  cooperation.  Though  indirect  they  are 
none  the  less  tangible  advantages.  It  is  a  truism 
as  old  as  the  hills  that  whatever  makes  for  con 
tentment  and  well-being  of  employees  redounds 
to  the  benefit  of  employers  and  the  advantage  of 
the  State. 

We  in  this  goodly  land  have  for  half  a  century 
or  more  centered  our  eyes  mainly  upon  the  pro 
duction  of  wealth.  That  is  not  wonderful,  seeing 
the  extent  of  Dame  Nature's  bounty  every  year. 
In  traveling  across  the  continent  one  remarks 
that  the  "big  talk"  seems  to  increase  in  direct 
ratio  to  the  distance  west  of  the  Mississippi  until 
in  California  they  no  longer  speak  of  "Our  Coun 
try"  but  of  " God's  Country."  And  here  I  am 
tempted  to  recall  that  the  joint  efforts  of  earth  and 
sun  add  ten  billions  annually  to  our  national  wealth. 


Business  and  Philanthropy        139 

But  we  must  concern  ourselves  more  and  more 
with  economic  distribution  and  economic  oppor 
tunity.  Irresponsible  agitation  must  not  be  left 
with  undeniable  facts  upon  which  to  base  malev 
olence  and  diatribe.  The  needs,  real  legitimate 
needs  of  the  worthy  poor,  must  not  go  unattended 
because  of  our  short-sightedness  and  neglect.  We 
must  eliminate  social-economic  forces  which  drag 
down,  and  substitute  environing  influences  of  the 
higher  sort.  We  must  stop  that  eminently  illogical 
and  harmful  practice  of  "shedding  tears  over  moral 
wrecks,  and  then  endowing  institutions  for  patch 
ing  character  after  the  disaster  has  come. "  The 
man  in  the  street  is  doing  more  thinking  than 
formerly  and  often  is  thinking  wrongly ;  more  often 
is  he  wrongly  led.  Soon  he  will  be  looking  "cross 
eyed  "  at  every  man  of  wealth.  Ferment  is  stirring 
and  he  who  has  a  dollar  is  misrepresented  as 
having  taken  that  dollar,  or  a  large  part  of  it,  from 
the  man  who  hasn't  quite  that  much.  , 

But  all  this  is  negative — just  a  warning.  John 
the  Baptist  and  the  "mourner's  bench"  are  useful 
in  emergencies.  The  best  way  to  turn  the  mind 
of  democracy  is  for  us  to  give  to  collective  interest 
a  part  of  the  time  and  thought  we  now  concentrate 
on  the  purely  personal.  Let  us  make  city  govern 
ment  efficient  and  honest.  Let  us  master  our 
overlords,  the  political  bosses,  public  utility 
magnates,  and  rural  legislators.  Let  us  invest, 
not  give,  a  part  of  our  substance  in  enterprises 
which  typify  common  weal,  the  union  of  business 


140  America  to  Japan 

and  philanthropy.  Remember  that  gifts  which 
fall  from  dead  men's  hands  are  not  philanthropy 
at  all.  The  possession  of  wealth  entails  real 
responsibilities  during  life.  Thus  only  may  we 
expect  social  reform  without  socialism.  Only 
thus  shall  we  conserve  and  hand  on  those  three 
great  principles  of  social  organization — order, 
self-reliance,  and  restraint.  There  need  be  no  new 
social  state  nor  any  miraculous  change  to  ensure 
high  character,  contentment,  and  efficiency,  which 
are  the  real  enduring  bases  of  a  nation's  life. 


JAPAN'S  OPPORTUNITY  IN  CHINA 

BY  GUSTAVUS   OHLINGER 

Lawyer,  formerly  in  Shanghai,  now  in  Toledo,  Ohio 

WHEN,  a  few  years  ago,  the  present  republican 
government  of  China  was  inaugurated,  it  dis 
placed  a  dynasty  both  racially  and  territorially 
foreign  which  had  ruled  the  empire  for  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years.  The  Manchu  emperors  had 
wrested  the  government  from  the  native  rulers  of 
the  Ming  dynasty.  This  native  dynasty,  in  turn, 
had  overthrown  and  expelled  the  Mongol  suc 
cessors  of  the  great  Genghis  Khan.  While  the 
Huns  were  devastating  Europe,  a  branch  of  the 
same  race  was  conquering  all  of  China  north  of 
the  great  river.  And  so  at  different  periods  native 
princes  and  foreign  warriors  have  struggled  for 
supremacy  and  have  sat  upon  the  dragon  throne. 
The  conquering  Tartars,  Mongols,  and  Manchus 
have  each  in  their  turn  thrived  for  a  while  as 
parasites  on  Chinese  soil,  and  then  have  succumbed 
to  the  virility  of  the  native  stock,  leaving  but  few 
traces  of  their  presence,  either  in  the  physical  char 
acteristics  of  the  people,  or  in  their  institutions. 

Through  all  these  dynastic  changes,  the  struc- 
141 


142  America  to  Japan 

ture  of  society  has  remained  practically  the  same. 
The  Chinese  are  to-day  what  they  were  two  thou 
sand  years  ago — the  most  numerous  and  most 
thoroughgoing  democracy  che  world  has  known. 
There  is  among  them  neither  a  hereditary  nobility, 
nor  a  ruling  caste,  and  no  people  is  so  little  gov 
erned  or  so  loosely  organized  politically.  By  long 
experience  the  government  has  been  restricted 
to  the  fewest  possible  functions  consistent  with 
maintaining  society  in  its  established  routine. 
As  a  consequence,  law  and  the  administration  of 
justice  is  concerned  almost  entirely  with  criminal 
matters.  Whatever  touches  the  people  in  their 
civil,  commercial,  and  domestic  relations,  is  regu 
lated  to  a  very  large  extent  independently  of 
governmental  authority. 

The  result  has  been  to  incapacitate  the  Chinese 
—fortunately,  perhaps — for  aggressive  political 
action,  but  at  the  same  time  to  arm  them  with 
tremendous  powers  of  passive  resistance.  A 
highly  organized  state  may  be  conquered  and  its 
destiny  ordered  to  the  will  of  the  aggressor.  A 
democracy  comprising  the  most  numerous  and 
virile  race  in  the  world  cannot  be  subjected,  in 
any  great  degree,  to  political  change.  External 
coercion,  the  imposition  of  foreign  laws  and  usages 
and  of  unaccustomed  details  of  administration, 
will,  in  the  end,  drain  the  vitality  of  the  conquer 
ing  people,  and  leave  China  unaffected  to  pursue 
her  millennial  history. 

These  considerations  present  a  warning,  and  also, 


Japan's  Opportunity  in  China      143 

correctly  interpreted,  point  out  an  opportunity. 
While  political  action  would  accomplish  very 
doubtful  results,  China  presents  an  unequaled 
field  for  commercial  and  educational  activity.  So 
far  as  Chinese  markets  are  concerned,  Japan 
already  possesses  such  natural  advantages  by 
virtue  of  her  proximity  and  her  insular  position 
that  special  privileges  could  add  but  little.  On 
the  other  hand,  efforts  to  secure  special  consider 
ation  would  arouse  the  envy  and  jealousy  of  other 
powers  and  might  even  threaten  the  confidence 
and  good  will  of  the  Chinese  people,  which,  above 
all  things,  it  should  be  the  policy  of  Japan  to 
cultivate. 

In  the  educational  field,  Japan's  opportunities 
are  even  greater.  It  is  doubtful  whether  an 
Occidental  can  ever  fully  understand  the  Chinese. 
In  fact,  one  of  the  profoundest  students  of  Chinese 
life  questions  whether  a  European  who  had 
acquired  an  accurate  insight  into  the  Chinese 
mind  would  not  himself  become  a  riddle,  unintel 
ligible  to  his  own  countrymen.  Japan,  on  the 
other  hand,  drew  her  early  culture  from  Chinese 
sources.  Her  later  education  in  positive  sciences 
she  acquired  from  Western  nations.  She  is 
therefore  preeminently  qualified  to  mediate  be 
tween  Asia  and  Europe  and  America.  It  is  her 
highest  mission  to  bring  to  the  Orient  the  results 
of  our  scientific  research,  and,  in  turn,  to  enrich 
the  Occident  by  interpreting  to  us  the  meaning  of 
the  civilization  of  the  East. 


JAPAN'S  IDEALS  AND  PROBLEMS 

BY  CHARLES  A.  COFFIN 

Chairman,  General  Electric  Company 

IN  the  political  and  industrial  life  of  every  nation 
new  situations  often  arise,  which  must  be  con 
sidered  not  only  with  a  view  to  the  interests  and 
attitude  of  its  own  people,  but  also  to  the  interests 
and  attitude  of  other  nations.  Agitation  and  differ 
ences  in  one  form  or  another  with  respect  to  indus 
trial,  social,  and  financial  problems,  immigration 
laws,  tariffs,  etc.,  may  always  be  expected  to  exist 
and  keep  alive  a  certain  spirit  of  unrest  at  home 
and  dissent  abroad.  Japan  cannot  hope  to  be 
at  all  times  free  from  internal  or  external  troubles 
resting  upon  one  or  more  of  these  causes.  That 
her  misunderstandings  at  home  are  so  few  and 
that  her  differences  with  other  peoples  have  been 
so  rare,  is  a  tribute  to  the  patience  and  wisdom 
with  which  in  the  main  she  has  dealt  with  perplex 
ing  and  embarrassing  situations. 

Of  the  problems  which  Japan  now  faces,  to 
reach  a  proper  solution  of  which  will  require  time, 

skill,  and  initiative,  that  of  her  industrial  future 

144 


Japan's  Ideals  and  Problems       145 

is  perhaps  of  the  greatest  moment.  Japan  is 
relatively  new  in  the  field  of  industrial  activities 
and  world  competition.  She  has  carried  almost 
to  its  limit  the  cultivation  of  her  soil,  and  her  dense 
and  ever-increasing  population  calls  for  other  and 
greater  opportunities  for  employment.  These 
must  be  found  in  the  diversification  of  her  manu 
factures,  the  development  of  her  natural  resources, 
and  the  creation  and  carrying  forward  of  commer 
cial  enterprises.  In  respect  to  all  these  activities 
she  has  made  gratifying  progress  in  the  last  two 
decades  and  she  is  doing  more  and  more  to  supply 
the  needs  of  her  own  population  other  than  from 
the  pursuits  of  agriculture. 

By  taking  advantage  of  her  advanced  position 
in  manufactures  and  in  technical  and  engineering 
skill  as  compared  with  her  neighbors  in  the  Far 
East,  she  should  become  the  industrial  and  scien 
tific  center  of  the  Orient  and  vastly  augment  her 
trade,  especially  with  those  countries  which,  by 
reason  of  their  geographical  position,  are  naturally 
her  customers. 

To  widely  develop  her  varied  resources,  to 
build  up  and  diversify  her  manufactures,  to  add 
to  her  facilities  for  land  and  sea  transportation, 
and  to  distribute  the  energy  of  her  great  water- 
powers  over  far-reaching  electrical  lines  rendering 
service  for  every  useful  purpose,  Japan  will  need 
to  secure  a  share  of  the  surplus  capital  of  other  and 
financially  stronger  countries. 

To  attract  permanently  such  foreign  capital, 

10 


146  America  to  Japan 

the  people  of  Japan  should  establish  relations  of 
intimate  cooperation  with  those  who  supply  it, 
that  its  investment  and  administration  may  by 
joint  effort  be  better  safeguarded.  I  have  been 
witness  to  notable  instances  of  the  ready  and  effec 
tive  cooperation  of  her  people  with  those  citizens 
of  other  countries  who  have  participated  in  Jap 
anese  manufacturing  and  commercial  enterprises. 
In  those  instances  her  merchants  and  financial 
leaders  have  shown  great  fidelity  in  guarding  the 
interests  of  her  foreign  associates.  An  adherence 
to  this  policy  will  have  great  influence  in  the  main 
tenance  of  international  trade  relations  of  lasting 
cordiality  and  intimacy. 

In  a  domain  other  than  that  of  commercial  and 
industrial  activity,  Japan  is  contending  with  an 
existing,  but  happily  diminishing,  oversea  mis 
understanding  and  suspicion.  This  widespread 
attitude  or  state  of  mind  is,  to  be  sure,  chiefly  that 
of  the  prejudiced,  irresponsible,  and  uninformed. 
This  being  so,  Japan  can  with  perfect  confidence 
and  serenity  keep  that  even  course  of  patience  and 
forbearance  which  she  has  with  dignity  and  fine 
spirit  pursued  during  many  years. 

She  will  find  it  well  to  reflect  that  in  re 
spect'  to  full  accord  families  are  not  always 
united,  that  members  of  the  same  community 
are  seldom  wholly  so,  and  that  in  respect  to 
political,  economic,  and  social  problems  Japan, 
as  is  equally  true  of  other  countries,  finds 
marked  and  sometimes  violent  differences  even 


Japan's  Ideals  and  Problems       147 

among  her  own  people.  So  she  may  think  it 
less  strange  that  at  long  range  and  under 
the  baneful  influence  of  agitators  at  home 
and  in  foreign  countries  international  cordial 
ity  and  good  understanding  are  not  always 
possible. 

There  is,  therefore,  the  greater  reason,  why  with 
temperance  and  without  bitterness,  she  should  be 
content  if  progress  towards  a  better  understanding 
on  the  part  of  those  whose  appreciation  she  covets 
should  often  seem  disappointingly  slow;  but  that 
it  will  come  in  the  fullness  of  time,  there  can  be 
no  question. 

Japan  will  not  forget  that  it  is  of  less  value  that 
she  make  rapid  commercial  and  industrial  advance 
than  that  she  maintain  her  old  and  high  ideals 
and  keep  fresh  and  unimpaired  all  her  finer 
qualities.  Ideas  divorced  from  ideals  make  only 
for  a  physical  superiority;  ideals  make  for  moral 
greatness;  united,  they  give  expression  to  the 
highest  development  of  modern  thought  and 
civilization.  A  selfish  and  ambitious  people  pos 
sessing  mere  force  and  capacity  may  acquire 
transient  power  in  respect  to  material  things  and 
yet  suffer  degradation  of  the  spirit;  they  may 
unite  the  spectacular  and  showy  with  arrogance, 
intolerance,  and  oppression.  This  is  the  sure 
tendency  of  any  nation  of  low  ideals,  which  en 
thrones  miscalled  glory  above  justice,  liberty,  and 
freedom.  A  people  firm  in  the  maintenance  of 
high  ideals  and  free  from  vaulting  ambition  or  lust 


148  America  to  Japan 

of  empire  may  be  for  a  time  less  resplendent,  but 
they  will  attain  a  loftier  civilization  and  contribute 
vastly  more  to  stability,  peace,  and  lasting  welfare 
throughout  the  world. 

The  message  which  the  American  friends  of 
Japan  should  convey  to  her  is  that  her  people 
should  hold  fast  to  those  ideals  and  foster  those 
moral  qualities  for  which  they  have  long  been 
distinguished — patriotism,  religious  tolerance, 
courage,  generosity,  and  gentleness  to  fallen 
foes. 

Japan's  unsurpassed  valor  on  land  and  sea  in 
the  Russian  war  won  no  greater  laurels  than  her 
chivalrous  treatment  of  her  prisoners  of  that 
war.  By  contributing  for  the  sufferers  of  the  San 
Francisco  earthquake,  from  her  then  depleted  re 
sources,  a  larger  amount  than  all  the  other  nations 
of  the  world  combined,  apart  from  the  United 
States,  she  demonstrated  the  spontaneous  sym 
pathy  of  a  great-hearted  and  magnanimous 
people. 

Let  Japan  continue  in  the  practice  of  those  vir 
tues  which  have  brought  her  to  her  present  high 
estate.  Let  her  persist  by  every  honorable  en 
deavor  to  maintain  peace  with  all  the  world.  Let 
her  hold  to  her  ancient  attributes  of  chivalry, 
kindness  to  strangers,  love  of  children  and  flowers, 
sincere  friendships,  and  simplicity  of  living.  Let 
her  keep  even  the  scales  of  justice  and  shun  un 
worthy  ambitions. 

By  these  means  she  will  come  to  be  understood 


Japan's  Ideals  and  Problems       149 

by  those  who  now  misjudge  her.  So  shall  her 
moral  greatness  be  an  inspiration  to  all  peoples. 
She  will  be  an  example  to  the  world  and  a  leader 
among  the  nations. 


PUBLIC  OPINION 

BY  JAMES  M.  TAYLOR 

Former  President,  Vassar  College 

IT  is  notoriously  difficult  to  state  the  opinion  of 
a  democracy  as  numerous  as  that  of  the  American 
States  and  so  scattered  over  an  enormous  area. 
We  have  no  limitations  on  speech  or  publication, 
practically,  and  our  newspapers  are  free  to  support 
justice  or  peace,  and  on  the  other  hand  to  instigate 
class  hatred  or  international  feudy/Whether  our 
press  is  too  free  when  one  newspaper  can  be  charged 
publicly  with  encouraging  the  assassination  of  a 
l  president,  may  well  be  open  to  question,  but  the 
\  fact  of  this  freedom  must  be  taken  into  full  account 
\  when  our  friends  in  other  lands  read  in  the  press 
•the  cry  of  hostility  and  war;/  There  are  papers 
and  papers,  some  self-seeking,  others  organs  of 
personal  ambitions  or  greed,  while  others  voice 
the  thoughts  of  demagogues  who  would  recklessly 
imperil  our  own  liberty  and  therefore  can  scarce 
ly  be  expected  to  heed  the  rights  of  others;  and 
there  are  journals  seeking  righteousness  and  peacq 
and  speaking  for  the  better  and  larger  portion 

of  our  people.     The_J&r^Lduty  of  the  Japanese 

150 


Public  Opinion  151 

press__which  quotes,  the- American  newspapers,  is 
to  discriminate,  as  our  better  people  do,  between 
the  irresponsible,  sensational,  untrustworthy  braw 
lers,  and  those  who  speak  for  the  sober  and  earnest 
people  of  our  nation. 

In  the  message  of  Japan  to  America  one  writer 
referred  to  the  vast  diversity  of  our  citizenship  and 
its  bearing  on  our  foreign  relations.  That  cannot 
be  too  much  emphasized  by  our  friends  in  Japan, 
particularly  in  this  time  of  general  wars.  For 
many  years  this  has  given  our  government  serious 
trouble,  as,  for  example,  the  efforts  of  the  Irish 
Fenians  among  us  to  embroil  us  with  Great  Brit 
ain,  or  the  cases  of  the  expeditions  so  often  organ 
ized  here  to  disturb  the  Spanish  colonies;  but  our 
policy  has  been  uniformly  correct,  and  these  plots 
and  outbreaks  have  never  failed  to  be  put  down  by 
the  general  sentiment  of  our  people.  Just  now  our 
relations  with  Japan  may  seem  to  be  complicated 
in  a  small  degree  by  the  excitement  of  a  part  of 
our  citizens  of  German  descent  over  Japan's  part 
in  the  present  war  and  her  victorious  conflict  with 
Germany.  But  Japan  should  know  that  this 
experience  is  in  no  way  peculiar  to  Japanese 
relations.  Those  we  call  pro-Germans,  or  rather 
those  of  that  party  who  forget  for  the  moment  the 
claims  of  their  American  citizenship  in  their  efforts 
to  serve  Germany  at  any  cost  to  us,  are  a  minority 
even  of  the  German-Americans,  and  the  popular 
sentiment  of  our  nation  resents  increasingly  the 
attempts  of  any  of  its  foreign-born  citizens  to 


152  America  to  Japan 

involve  us  in  war  for  their  own  unpatriotic  ends. 
The  heart  of  our  people  is  soundly  American  and  is 
not  moved  with  enmity  to  our  long-tried  friends 
in  Japan,  just  because  of  Japan's  complications 
,  with  other  nations.  //Japanese  newspapers  and 
readers  need  to  remind  themselves  constantly 
that  wild  expressions  of  opinion  by  sections  of  our 
press  and  people  do  not  represent  the  great  mass 
of  our  hundred  millions^'  Our  difficulties  are,  in 
deed,  increased  by  our  complex  population,  but 
our  American  spirit  has  so  far  controlled  popular 
sentiment  and  directed  national  action.  There 
is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  any  threatening 
change  has  come  in  this  respect. 

Even  as  regards  California  Japan  should  exer 
cise  great  patience,  as  she  indeed  already  has. 
But  let  Japanese  citizens  imagine  their  own  feelings 
if  from  the  Philippines,  from  Siberia,  from  New 
Guinea,  from  India,  from  the  least  advanced 
islands  of  the  Pacific,  millions  of  immigrants 
should  flock  to  Japan.  We  have  had  such  an 
experience  in  the  east  of  our  country. 

Over  two  and  a  half  millions  of  Italians,  chiefly 
from  South  Italy,  have  come  to  us  in  fifteen  years. 
We  have  a  million  Poles  and  three  millions  of  Slavs. 
The  per  cent,  of  illiteracy  among  these  is  very  large, 
the  families  are  enormous,  and  the  communities 
in  which  they  gather,  often  by  themselves,  become 
a  threat  to  the  stability  of  the  ideals  of  American 
manhood  and  womanhood.  California,  facing 
the  Orient's  prolific  nations,  has  great  fear  that  its 


Public  Opinion  153 

own  spirit  and  culture  may  be  crushed  under  the 
weight, not  of  the  cultivated  and  educated  andrefined 
Japanese,  but  of  the  vast  number  who  have  neither 
culture  nor  American  aspirations.  It  is  a  problem 
for  all  America,  all  this  vast  immigration,  because 
it  is  a  threat  against  a  form  of  government  that 
cannot  exist  if  it  rest  on  ignorance  and  unf  amiliar- 
ity  with  the  principles  of  self-government.  ^/But  it  ] 
is  a  grave  mistake  for  the  Japanese  to  fancy  that 
the  great  body  of  American  public  opinion  is  ad 
verse  to  the  Japanese,  or  that  our  old  friendship 
has  diminished  or  been  forgotten,/  We  appreciate 
and  insist  on  Japan's  own  contention  for  equal 
treatment  before  the  law  and  under  the  existing 
treaties.  Even  in  California  itself  there  is  a  very 
widely  extended  desire  to  find  a  way  consistent 
with  justice  to  Japan,  to  limit  an  immigration  they 
fear, — and,  as  many  Easterners  think,  possibly  fear 
too  much.  The  admirable  book  of  Dr.  Gulick,  so 
well  known  in  Japan  as  well  as  in  America,  must 
exert  its  influence.  Dr.  Scudder  from  Honolulu 
has  recently  been  in  America  advancing  the  cause 
of  Japan.  A  large  public  sentiment  is  urging 
everywhere  that  Japan  has  had  reason  for  com 
plaint  and  has  carried  herself  with  great  dignity 
and  consideration  and  with  appreciation  of  a 
difficulty  inherent  in  our  Constitution,  which  per 
mits  a  State  to  involve  the  nation  in  its  troubles, 
— a  difficulty  foreseen  by  Madison  when  our  Con 
stitution  was  formed  and  which  we  have  not  yet 
solved.  But  behind  the  confused  problems  of 


J54  America  to  Japan 

California  our  national  sentiment  is  insisting  that 
fairness  to  Japan  shall  direct  our  diplomacy,  and 
that  a  solution  must  be  found  that  acknowledges 
the  justice  of  her  claim  to  such  treatment  as  we 
give  to  other  of  the  most  favored  nations. 

There  must  not  be  any  misunderstanding  be 
tween  us,  and  we  must  preserve  the  traditions  of 
our  long  international  friendship  and  pass  them 
on  to  our  children. 


TREATY  THRALDOM  AND  RELEASE 

BY  ALBERT  SHAW 

Publicist,    Editor — Review    of    Reviews 

AMERICA  has  desired,  among  the  nations,  friend 
ship,  good  will,  and  mutual  help  in  advancing  the 
cause  of  human  welfare.  In  the  progress  of  Japan, 
Americans  have  felt  a  pleasure  and  a  pride  that 
have  been  tangible  enough  to  be  a  real  element  in 
our  country's  consciousness  of  its  neighbors  and  of 
the  world  in  which  we  live.  There  come  points  of 
strain  and  misunderstanding  in  the  foreign  as  well 
as  the  domestic  policies  of  all  governments.  It  is 
fortunate,  therefore,  if  between  nations  there  has 
been  the  habit  of  mutual  trust,  admiration,  and 
good  will,  and  if  there  has  been  laid  an  historical 
foundation  of  confidence  due  to  relations  of  a 
generous  nature. 

It  is  now  more  than  sixty  years  since  the  first 
treaty  was  signed  between  the  United  States  and 
Japan.  It  is  hard  for  present-day  Americans  to 
realize  the  great  extent  of  their  ocean  shipping, 
and  the  vast  number  of  their  vessels  engaged  in  the 
whaling  trade,  in  the  period  from  1840  to  1860. 
Hundreds  of  American  ships  were  liable  to  find 

155 


156  America  to  Japan 

themselves  at  one  time  or  another  off  the  northern 
coasts  of  Japan.  Occasionally  a  wreck  occurred, 
and  it  was  experience  with  the  shipwrecked  sailors 
that  led  up  to  Commodore  Perry's  expedition  in 
1853.  The  Japanese  of  all  classes  had  been  kind 
to  such  unfortunates.  Commodore  Perry's  treaty 
of  1854  related  in  particular  to  shipwrecks  and  the 
treatment  of  sailors. 

Two  ports  were  opened,  involving  incidental 
business  but  not  providing  for  commerce  or  en 
couraging  it.  But  the  fates  were  preparing  Japan 
for  her  new  era,  and  her  interest  in  the  things  of  the 
outside  world  was  destined  to  develop  rapidly. 
It  was  in  1856  that  Townsend  Harris  went  to 
Japan  as  the  consul-general  from  the  United 
States.  He  secured  the  signature  of  a  new  treaty 
in  l857»  granting  Americans  many  rights  and 
privileges  in  Japan;  but  it  was  not  until  the  follow 
ing  year  that  he  persuaded  the  conservative 
authorities  to  make  the  important  Treaty  of  1858 
granting  commercial  intercourse. 

This  American  treaty  was  soon  followed  by 
treaties  with  European  countries,  and  so  Japan 
entered  upon  her  modern  international  career. 
Foreigners  were,  however,  restricted  to  specified 
areas  adjacent  to  the  opened  seaports,  and  it  was 
under  many  limitations  that  they  were  accorded 
the  privilege  of  consular  jurisdiction, — that  is  to 
say,  the  right  was  accorded  to  foreign  consuls  in 
the  specified  seaports  to  act  as  judges  in  cases 
involving  persons  of  their  own  nationality. 


Treaty  Thraldom  and  Release     157 

Having  had  no  foreign  commerce,  Japan  had 
not  developed  a  revenue  system  of  which  duties 
on  imports  formed  an  essential  part.  It  was 
therefore  understandable  that  the  historic  treaty 
negotiated  by  Townsend  Harris  should  have 
included  an  agreement  as  to  the  rates  to  be  paid 
upon  American  wares  which  were  now  for  the  first 
time  to  be  brought  into  the  commerce  of  Japan. 

Consular  jurisdiction  was  the  established  Euro 
pean  and  American  custom  in  Turkey,  Egypt, 
China,  and  other  parts  of  the  world  which  did  not 
have  systems  of  law  that  were  similar  in  principle  to 
those  of  Western  nations.  Such  arrangements  are 
not  humiliating  as  a  temporary  expedient  if  they 
are  made  terminable  after  a  given  date  or  upon  due 
notice. 

Neither  was  Mr.  Townsend  Harris's  arrange 
ment  of  15  per  cent.,  as  the  customs  duties 
rate,  unsuitable  as  the  beginning  of  a  system. 
Our  Government  very  properly  agreed  that  Japan 
should  collect  a  duty  of  35  per  cent,  upon  alcoholic 
liquors,  and  20  per  cent,  upon  some  other  articles. 
It  was  also  recorded  that  "the  President  of  the 
United  States,  at  the  request  of  the  Japanese 
Government,  will  act  as  a  friendly  mediator  in 
such  matters  of  difference  as  may  arise  between 
the  Government  of  Japan  and  any  European 
Power." 

But  Europe  in  that  period  was  more  commercial 
and  ruthless  in  its  attitude  towards  the  Orient 
than  friendly  or  considerate.  In  the  period  from 


158  America  to  Japan 

1 86 1  to  1863  there  were  internal  troubles  in  Japan, 
due  to  reactionary  influences  and  to  discord 
between  the  respective  supporters  of  the  dual 
systems  of  government  then  existing,  that  of  the 
Emperor  and  that  of  the  Shogunate.  And,  mixed 
up  with  this  domestic  discord  was  a  strong  anti- 
foreign  feeling  that  resulted  in  certain  incidents  of 
technical  affront  rather  than  serious  damage  to 
several  foreign  governments.  The  United  States 
was  involved  in  her  own  great  domestic  struggle, 
and  England  led  the  European  Powers  in  com 
pelling  Japan  to  make  adjustments  and  reparation. 

Commodore  Perry's  fleet  had  several  years 
earlier  visited  Japan  with  overtures  of  peace  and 
friendship.  A  far  more  powerful  British  fleet 
appeared,  and  bombarded  Japanese  cities  on 
pretexts  of  offense  too  slight  for  Englishmen  to 
justify  in  retrospect.  One  Englishman  had  been 
killed  for  having  gone  where  he  had  no  right  to  be. 
An  unfortunate  anti-foreign  port  officer  had  fired, 
without  doing  any  harm,  upon  the  flags  of  France, 
Holland,  and  the  United  States.  Nothing  what 
ever  was  due  to  England,  or  to  the  other  three 
countries,  except  an  expression  of  regret  and  a 
salute  to  the  flags,  which  Japan  would  have  given 
with  all  good  will.  But,  not  content  with  an  un 
necessary  bombardment,  the  four  foreign  govern 
ments  demanded  the  payment  by  Japan  of  an 
indemnity  of  $3,000,000,  to  be  divided  among 
them. 

It  was  further  intimated,  however,  that  if  Japan 


Treaty  Thraldom  and  Release     159 

would  open  up  additional  ports,  and  would  permit 
the  foreign  treaty  powers  to  push  their  wares  into 
Japan  by  paying  a  nominal  duty  of  5  per  cent,  or 
less,  the  $3,000,000,  of  indemnity  would  be  re 
mitted.  Japan  was  forced  to  yield.  The  general 
level  of  duties,  as  fixed  by  the  American,  Townsend 
Harris,  at  15  per  cent.,  was  reduced  by  the  now 
dominant  European  diplomats  to  5  per  cent.  And 
this  included  the  duty  on  foreign  intoxicating 
liquors,  which  under  the  American  lead  had  been 
placed  at  35  per  cent. 

Japan  was  now  beginning  to  be  a  commercial 
country,  and  this  compulsion  by  outside  govern 
ments  to  accept  a  merely  nominal  rate  of  import 
dues  was  equivalent  to  the  payment  of  a  large 
indemnity  every  year  until  Japan  could  recover 
her  freedom.  Worst  of  all,  having  punished  Japan 
by  bombardment,  and  then  by  the  cutting  down  of 
her  tariff  rates,  the  four  concerted  governments 
still  exacted  payment  of  the  $3,000,000  indemnity, 
of  which  one-quarter  was  to  come  to  the  treasury 
of  the  United  States. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  as  a  token  of  the  historical 
friendship  between  the  United  States  and  Japan, 
that  America  did  not  take  leading  part  in  forcing 
down  the  customs  rate  to  5  per  cent.;  was  not 
active  in  the  demand  of  an  indemnity,  and  finally 
that  America  paid  back  to  Japan  the  entire  sum  of 
three-quarters  of  a  million  dollars.  So  far  as  we 
are  aware,  Great  Britain,  France,  and  the  Nether 
lands  have  always  retained  their  shares  of  this 


160  America  to  Japan 

unfair  exaction.  I  have  no  thought  of  reflecting 
upon  the  policies  of  these  European  governments. 
They  then  believed  that  international  statesman 
ship  must  adopt  the  policy  of  consulting  one's 
own  interest  and  taking  what  one  could  get.  I  am 
glad  to  believe  that  the  American  Government  has 
more  often  been  actuated  by  the  principles  and 
motives  that  govern  private  relations  among  just 
and  considerate  men,  although  we  too  have  made 
errors,  and  I  do  not  wish  to  overlook  them. 

My  own  interest  in  the  position  and  progress  of 
Japan,  which  is  merely  typical  of  the  feeling  that 
has  long  prevailed  in  America,  began  in  my  early 
youth;  and  therefore  I  did  not  fail  to  note  with 
sympathy,  during  a  period  of  years  culminating 
in  1894,  the  efforts  of  Japan,  aided  by  the  United 
States,  to  secure  her  release  and  her  rights  of 
sovereignty.  In  that  dark  period  of  our  own  Civil 
War,  the  Powers  that  were  subjecting  Japan  to 
pressure  were  not  very  friendly  to  the  United 
States.  Soon  after  our  own  recovery,  however, 
from  domestic  strife  and  its  immediate  conse 
quences,  Japan  was  assured  of  our  readiness  to 
enter  at  the  earliest  possible  moment  upon  new 
arrangements,  that  would  give  her  back  an  un 
impaired  sovereign  right  over  her  own  sources  of 
revenue,  and  would  relieve  her  from  any  humilia 
tion  due  to  the  fact  of  alien  jurisdiction  on  her  soil. 

It  was  manifestly  impossible  for  Japan  to  impose 
a  high  rate  of  duty  upon  American  goods  while 
continuing  to  admit  European  goods  at  a  merely 


Treaty  Thraldom  and  Release     161 

nominal  rate.  A  new  policy  must  obviously  have 
general  application.  America  was  always  willing 
and  ready  to  abrogate  the  treaties  in  Japan's 
favor.  Europe  was  not  willing,  and  so  the  matter 
stood  for  more  than  twenty  years.  Meanwhile, 
the  United  States  led  the  way  in  signing  a  postal 
treaty  and  bringing  Japan  into  the  international 
postal  union.  And,  again,  the  United  States  led 
in  the  making  of  an  extradition  treaty  with  Japan, 
upon  terms  of  perfect  reciprocity. 

As  an  American  journalist  and  student  of  in 
ternational  affairs,  I  had  taken  the  ground  that 
Japan  ought  to  denounce  the  commercial  treaties, 
assuming  full  rights  over  her  tariff  rates  after  a 
declared  date,  while  of  course  giving  ample  notice  as 
to  the  ending  of  consular  jurisdiction.  It  was  with 
this  belief  that  I  came  to  the  editorship  of  the  Amer 
ican  Review  of  Reviews  in  1891.  I  am  glad  to  find 
that  I  put  into  the  very  first  number  of  that  peri 
odical,  twenty-four  years  ago,  the  following  words : 

When  the  Emperor's  "golden  rule"  is  more  com 
monly  observed,  the  ordinary  relations  between  great 
nations  and  small  ones  will  be  radically  improved. 
What  act  of  neighborly  kindness  ought  America  not 
to  perform  towards  Japan,  whenever  occasion  offers? 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  Japanese  Government  may 
in  the  early  future  have  occasion  to  erect  a  mammoth 
monument  in  memory  of  the  staunch  friendship  of  the 
United  States  in  helping  to  secure  a  revision  of  the 
commercial  treaties  under  which  Europe  is  throttling 
Japan. 


162  America  to  Japan 

There  was  no  criticism  of  our  home  Government 
at  Washington  of  what  we  American  friends  of 
Japan  were  writing  and  saying  in  those  days, 
because  we  all  knew  that  our  Government  had 
given  its  full  consent  to  Japan  long  before,  and 
was  ready  at  any  moment  to  sign  a  treaty — which 
indeed  had  already  been  written — or  to  acknowl 
edge  Japan 's  right  on  due  notice  to  declare  the 
treaties  null  and  void. 

In  the  summer  of  1894,  Japan's  pent-up  energies 
burst  forth.  Her  practical  relationships  to  Korea 
seemed  more  important  than  China's  titular  and 
traditional  relationships.  The  war  was  regrettable. 
Possibly  if  the  European  Powers,  joining  America, 
had  come  forward  promptly,  offering  generous  and 
unselfish  friendship  to  Japan,  including  the  grant 
ing  of  simple  justice  in  the  matter  of  the  treaties, 
there  could  have  been  mediation  with  careful  and 
permanent  adjustment  of  all  questions  relating  to 
Korea,  and  to  Japan's  interests  on  the  Asiatic 
continent.  Such  a  solution  in  the  spring  of  1894 
might  not  only  have  prevented  one  war,  but 
it  would  probably  have  saved  Japan  from  two 
others,  each  of  which  grew  out  of  the  results  of 
the  first. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  swift  weeks  in  1894  Japan 
was  recognized  as  a  naval  and  military  power 
henceforth  to  be  reckoned  with.  The  Rosebery 
Cabinet  was  now  ready  to  abrogate  the  treaties,  and 
the  United  States  signed  the  Treaty  of  1894,  to  go 
into  effect  after  five  years.  Other  nations  more  or 


Treaty  Thraldom  and  Release    163 

less  grudgingly  followed  the  course  adopted  by 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States. 

After  all,  the  period  of  Japan's  humiliation  at 
the  hands  of  foreign  countries  was  not  a  long  one 
as  history  goes.  Her  judicial  and  legal  systems 
were  quickly  but  thoroughly  reconstructed,  and 
no  one  can  say  that  her  assumption  of  full  author 
ity  over  her  own  affairs  has  not  been  justified  from 
the  very  beginning. 

Thirty  years  ago,  two  little  Japanese  villages 
showed  great  kindness  to  a  number  of  shipwrecked 
American  sailors.  The  United  States  Government 
showed  recognition  by  awarding  gold  medals  to 
certain  individuals  and  a  sum  of  several  thousand 
dollars  to  the  villagers  as  a  whole.  The  money 
was  invested  for  the  permanent  benefit  of  the 
village  schools.  The  villagers  themselves  erected 
a  monument,  upon  which  they  inscribed  the  cir 
cumstances  in  full  detail.  The  concluding  lan 
guage  of  the  inscription,  as  translated,  is  as  follows : 

Therefore,  we,  the  people  of  these  villages,  acting 
in  harmony,  erect  this  monument  and  inscribe  thereon 
all  these  facts,  together  with  the  following  verse  which 
we  dedicate  to  posterity  in  immortal  commemoration 
of  the  goodness  of  the  United  States  Government : 

The  principle  of  loving  our  neighbor 

Is  a  very  important  matter. 

Our  Emperor  made  this  Golden  Rule; 

We  act  in  accordance  with  it. 

We  must  help  each  other  in  calamity, 

For  Sympathy  is  the  law  of  nature. 


164  America  to  Japan 

Our  act  was  humble,  but  its  reward  was  great. 

So,  perceiving  the  spirit  of  the  Giver, 

We  accept  this  gift  forever 

And  dedicate  it  to  the  education  of  our  children. 

These  lines,  simple  and  sincere  as  they  are,  ex 
press  such  confidence  and  good  will  as  two  great 
countries  can  maintain  through  generations  to 
come,  if  their  governments  will  but  act  at  all  times 
in  response  to  the  best  feeling  of  their  citizens.  I 
do  not  believe  that  the  American  people  cherish 
any  aims  or  projects  that  are  contrary  at  any  point 
to  the  welfare,  progress,  and  dignity  of  Japan. 

The  Monroe  Doctrine,  as  applied  to  conditions 
in  our  own  hemisphere,  has  not  meant  aggrandize 
ment  for  ourselves  but  a  protecting  interest  in  the 
development  of  a  series  of  younger  and  weaker 
nations  until  such  time  as  there  could  be  no  danger 
of  their  being  humiliated  or  injured  from  without. 
Towards  every  other  country  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere  the  people  of  the  United  States  have 
no  attitude  except  one  of  good  will  and  of  sincere 
desire  for  their  peace  and  prosperity. 

Many  Japanese  scholars  and  statesmen  under 
stand  well  the  problems  of  our  American  develop 
ment.  I  was  intimately  associated  with  Dr. 
Shosuke  Sato  when,  some  thirty  years  ago,  he 
made  his  noteworthy  study  of  the  public  land 
system  by  virtue  of  which  the  people  of  the  United 
States  were  spread  from  the  Alleghanies  across  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  and  on  to  the  Pacific  Coast. 


Treaty  Thraldom  and  Release     165 

Your  scholars,  of  whom  Dr.  Sato  is  a  type,  know 
with  what  pain  and  hardship  we  have  pioneered 
our  way  across  this  North  American  continent,  sub 
duing  the  wilderness  and  creating  our  present  na 
tional  entity.  Almost  everything  that  we  have  done 
has  been  accomplished  by  us  in  this  period  since 
Commodore  Perry  made  us  acquainted  with  Japan. 

Broadly  speaking,  countries  that  aspire  to  a 
great  future  must  have  a  definite,  unified  nation 
ality,  with  harmony  of  institutions  and  of  language 
and  customs.  This  had  been  previously  achieved 
by  Japan,  as  the  great  foundation  upon  which  to 
build  her  recent  progress  and  her  great  future. 
Germany  had  her  unity  of  language  and  race, 
upon  which  to  erect  her  modern  political  structure 
and  her  international  position.  But  we  in  America, 
although  with  a  British  beginning,  are  even  now 
trying  to  create  a  blended,  distinct  nationality  out 
of  many  elements,  of  widely  different  origin. 

Our  Japanese  friends,  with  their  wonderful 
solidarity  of  nationhood,  reaching  a  long  ways  into 
the  past,  must  be  patient  and  generous  towards  our 
seething  and  struggling  population,  as  the  process 
goes  on  of  trying  to  bring  unity  of  life  and  con 
sistency  of  high  aim  into  the  America  that  is  yet  to 
be.  I  have  long  believed  that  in  the  nature  of 
things  the  mutual  friendship  between  the  American 
and  Japanese  governments  ought,  without  any 
formal  bonds  of  alliance,  to  be  quite  as  strong 
and  unshakable  as  that  between  any  other  two 
governments  in  the  world. 


1 66  America  to  Japan 

Neither  should  entertain  the  remotest  thought 
of  doing  the  other  any  injury,  and  both  should 
stand  for  peace  and  justice,  in  a  world  which  ought 
henceforth  to  discard  war  and  hatred  among 
nations  and  races.  National  ideals  may  still  find 
room,  even  though  they  sacrifice  something  on 
behalf  of  a  still  higher  realizable  ideal, — that  of 
cooperation,  good  neighborhood,  and  common 
humanity. 


HUMAN    BROTHERHOOD: 
AN  UNEXPLORED  CONTINENT 

BY  DARWIN  P.  KINGSLEY 

President,  New  York  Life  Insurance  Company 

SAVAGERY  and  Sovereignty,  pronounced  as 
words,  strike  the  ear  not  dissimilarly.  Savagery 
represents  the  natural  action  of  human  units  in  a 
lawless  world, — a  primitive  and  uncivilized  condi 
tion  of  society.  Sovereignty  is  supposed  to  be  the 
supreme  expression  of  the  authority  that  regulates 
organized  and  responsible  states.  But,  as  there 
are  many  so-called  sovereignties  in  the  world,  and 
as  the  fundamental  claim  of  each  is  that  it  is  un 
controlled  and  uncontrollable  by  any  other,  the 
impact  of  these  unyielding  forces  on  each  other 
has  created  a  new,  an  irresponsible,  a  lawless  over- 
world.  This  over-world  is  lawless  because  sov 
ereignty,  being  itself  the  law,  cannot,  except  by 
physical  compulsion,  be  expected  to  obey  any  law 
but  its  own  and  such  limited  obligation  as  may  be 
expressed  in  treaties.  Under  the  pressure  of  real 
or  alleged  necessity,  treaties  are  frequently  ignored 
and  sometimes  openly  violated.  The  result  is 
that  national  units,  in  the  exercise  of  their  highest 

167 


1 68  America  to  Japan 

functions,  operate  to-day  in  a  world  that  is  as 
irresponsible  as  the  world  of  savagery. 

Savagery  and  Sovereignty,  therefore,  not  only 
sound  alike,  but  are  alike  in  the  social  conditions 
which  they  define.  It  is  not  an  exaggeration  to 
say  that  savagery  in  a  thousand  years  together 
was  not  guilty  of  such  crimes  against  humanity  as 
have  been  committed  by  sovereignty  within  eight 
months. 

The  ability  of  any  state  speedily  to  enforce 
justice  is  universally  regarded  as  evidence  of  that 
state's  title  to  respect.  When  the  courts  of  any 
country  become  inefficient,  revolution  is  near; 
when  they  become  corrupt,  anarchy  is  not  far  off. 
No  country,  having  either  inefficient  or  corrupt 
courts  or  no  courts  at  all,  can  be  said  to  be  a 
civilized  country.  In  the  over-world  of  Inter 
national  Relations  there  are  no  real  courts,  no 
central  authority,  and  naturally  no  laws  which 
can  be  effectively  enforced. 

Proximity  and  common  ideals  until  recent 
times  have  been  controlling  forces  in  the  creation 
of  nationalities  and  of  International  Relations. 
International  Relations  are  no  longer  the  result  of 
geographic  proximity  alone.  Peoples  are  near 
each  other  now  who  may  physically  be  far  apart 
and  have  few  ideals  in  common.  Proximity  and 
International  Relations  have  been  advanced  by 
increased  population  and  by  a  multiplication  of 
nationalities,  but  proximity  through  the  service  of 
electricity  and  its  allies  has  outrun  proximity 


Human  Brotherhood  169 

through  increasing  population,  and  to  such  a 
degree  that  from  the  standpoint  of  human  in 
terest  there  are  no  foreign  lands.  Japan  is  now 
involved  in  a  war  the  physical  center  of  which  is 
at  her  antipodes. 

The  world  was  politically  several  diameters 
larger  when  the  American  Union  was  established 
than  it  is  now.  Any  word  uttered  to-day  by  a 
person  in  authority  in  Petrograd,  or  Berlin,  or 
Paris,  or  London,  is  published  in  New  York  or 
Tokio  before  "to-day"  has  dawned  in  those  cities. 
The  battle  of  New  Orleans  was  fought  two  weeks 
after  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  had 
signed  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  because  the  world 
was  then  so  large.  That  tragedy  could  not  happen 
to-day,  because  the  world  is  so  small,  but  the 
barbarism  that  lies  back  of  that  tragedy  has  not 
been  touched. 

The  fundamental  concept  of  national  sovereignty 
is  self-sufficiency,  but  no  nation  is  now  self-suffi 
cient.  Evidence  of  that  lies  all  about  us.  Gradu 
ally  through  the  years — swiftly  in  recent  years- 
through  the  instrumentalities  which  have  anni 
hilated  time  and  distance,  the  units  of  humanity 
have  been  drawn  together;  but  sovereignties,  as 
such,  are  no  nearer  each  other  to-day  than  they 
were  centuries  ago.  The  impact  of  unyielding 
sovereignties  has  been  intensified  and  extended  by 
the  common  interest  which  inevitably  sprang  out 
of  the  closer  relations  between  the  units  of  human 
ity.  The  new  world  thus  created  exhibits  all  the 


1 7°  America  to  Japan 

characteristics  of  every  state  which  has  no  efficient 
courts  nor  any  certain  way  of  administering 
justice. 

We  have  tried  to  soften  the  asperities  of  this 
lawless  world  through  what  is  known  as  Inter 
national  Law.  We  suddenly  awoke  last  August  to 
find  not  only  that  the  land  was  lawless  but  that 
it  was  the  natural  habitat  of  revolution  and  of 
utter  anarchy. 

This  increasing,  unorganized,  lawless,  but  neces 
sary  relation  between  sovereignties  is  the  great 
problem  before  humanity  to-day.  It  is  greater  than 
the  issues  involved  in  the  European  war.  It  is 
greater  because,  unless  the  anarchism  of  this 
over- world  is  stamped  out,  the  European  war  will 
be  repeated  again  and  again  with  greater  butchery 
and  with  greater  shame.  All  the  questions  which 
trouble  the  statesmen  of  Japan  and  America  lie 
in  this  barbaric  over-zone.  All  the  differences 
leading  up  to  the  present  situation  in  Europe  had 
their  genesis  there.  By  patience,  forbearance, 
and  the  cultivation  of  a  tolerant  spirit,  the  states 
men  of  Japan  and  America  can  solve  the  present- 
day  problems.  But  others  like  them  will 
immediately  spring  up,  and  little  progress  will  be 
made  through  their  solution  because  the  realm  in 
which  they  arise  is  controlled  by  the  rules  of 
savagery  and  not  by  the  laws  of  civilization. 
Whether  the  present  questions  between  our 
countries  are  peacefully  composed  or  not,  Japan 
and  America,  and  all  the  considerable  Powers  of 


Human  Brotherhood  171 

the  world,  will  inevitably  advance  further  and 
further  into  this  savage  over- world.  Business 
and  the  interests  of  humanity  will  compel  such 
advance.  To  learn  what  will  happen  then,  we 
need  only  point  to  what  is  happening  now. 

Modern  business  and  the  growth  of  human 
sympathy  is  the  new  wine  which  the  people  of 
Japan  and  the  people  of  the  United  States  and 
the  peoples  of  the  great  European  countries  have 
been  and  are  now  pouring  into  the  old  bottles  of 
national  sovereignty,  with  the  usual  results. 

The  anarchy  of  this  over-zone  cannot  be  de 
stroyed  by  Japan  and  America  and  the  other  great 
nations  of  the  world  through  any  half-way 
measures.  Nor  can  we  ignore  it.  We  must  deal 
with  it.  Nothing  less  than  revolution  in  the 
existing  international  order  will  serve. 

Can  the  people  of  Japan  and  the  people  of  the 
United  States  contemplate  with  any  patience  the 
signing  of  the  usual  forms  of  peace  when  this  war 
ends?  We  all  know  too  well  what  that  will  mean. 
We  can  even  now  see  the  contestants  limping  off, 
each  to  its  own  bit  of  earth,  immediately  to  begin 
preparation  for  the  next  and  greater  slaughter. 
Haven't  we  had  enough  of  slaughter?  Haven't  we 
had  enough  of  a  program  which  means  periodical 
human  butchery  and  can  never  mean  anything 
else? 

We  may  as  well  face  the  truth ;  our  leaders  have 
failed.  They  have  led  the  world  to  a  shambles. 
But  the  people  have  not  failed.  Their  heroism 


172  America  to  Japan 

is  to-day  as  unselfish  and  as  splendid  as  the  heroism 
of  Thermopylae.  The  fiber  of  the  common  man 
has  not  deteriorated.  It  shines  resplendent  in 
France,  in  Belgium,  in  Germany,  in  Austria,  in 
Russia,  and  in  the  Orient.  In  the  grip  of  national 
sovereignty  the  people  are  apparently  helpless. 
As  the  world  is  now  led,  men  must  periodically 
go  out  to  slaughter  their  brothers  with  whom 
they  have  no  quarrel.  Isn't  it  time  for  a  new 
leadership? 

I  have  said  that  no  nation  is  now  self-sufficient. 
I  do  not  say  that  nationality  has  not  served  a  high 
purpose,  but  the  bloody  fields  of  Europe  show 
conclusively  that  whatever  nationality  may  have 
achieved  in  the  past,  it  cannot  now  render  to 
humanity  any  service  which  for  a  moment  justifies 
the  hideous  human  sacrifice,  which,  Moloch-like,  it 
exacts.  This  war  is  humanity's  greatest  tragedy, 
but  it  will  not  have  been  suffered  in  vain  if  its 
opportunity  is  fairly  grasped.  The  war's  close  will 
be  that  "tide  in  the  affairs  of  men"  which  must  be 
"taken  at  the  flood."  No  people  in  all  the  world 
can  render  a  nobler  service  in  that  hour  than  the 
people  of  Nippon.  You  have  seen  the  world 
within  the  memories  of  men  now  living  expand  as 
it  did  when  you  decided  to  open  your  gates  sixty 
years  ago,  and  you  have  seen  it  contract  through 
the  discoveries  of  modern  science. 

Beyond  any  other  people  you  are  in  touch  with 
what  is  old,  and  yet  you  are  in  sympathy  with  what 
is  new.  You  have  within  recent  years  shown  a 


Human  Brotherhood  173 

self-control,  a  broad  tolerance,  and  a  genius  for 
achievement  which  stamp  you  as  a  great  and  a 
greatly  humane  people.  Will  you,  therefore,  when 
the  hour  strikes,  join  hands  with  the  people  of  the 
United  States  of  America  in  the  formation  of  a 
Federation  which  shall  place  humanity  above 
nationality? 

Happily  there  is  a  precedent  which  indicates 
how  this  Federation  can  be  formed  and  what  it 
should  mean. 

In  1781  the  thirteen  colonies  of  the  United 
States  took  half-way  measures  for  the  creation  of  a 
nation.  They  formed  what  was  known  as  the 
American  Confederation.  This  was  actually  an 
attempt  to  create  a  central  power  without  surren 
dering  to  it  whatever  authority  was  necessary  to 
control  interstate  questions.  The  American  Con 
federation  became  little  more  than  a  travesty  on 
government.  It  was  as  inefficient  then  as  Inter 
national  Law  is  now.  But  in  1787  the  thirteen 
quarreling  States  abandoned  the  old  program, 
adopted  a  Constitution,  and  thereby  created  a 
central  authority  known  as  the  Federal  Govern 
ment.  The  States  surrendered  nothing  in  creating 
the  central  government,  except  a  little  false  pride. 
By  that  surrender  they  achieved  America  and  all 
that  America  means.  They  failed  to  secure 
permanent  peace  because  they  did  not  in  the 
Constitution  make  the  authority  of  the  Federal 
Government  sufficiently  explicit.  This  resulted 
in  our  great  Civil  War.  That  Constitutional  error 


174  America  to  Japan 

was  promptly  rectified,  and  now  such  a  thing  as 
war  between  the  States  of  the  American  Union  is 
unthinkable.  War  between  the  nations  of  Europe 
or  the  nations  of  the  East  or  between  the  West  and 
the  East  must  be  made  equally  unthinkable. 

I  believe  the  people  of  the  United  States  of 
America  are  ready  to  help  civilize  this  lawless  over- 
zone;  this  realm  of  Moloch;  this  land  of  no-man 
and  yet  of  every-man;  this  land  in  which  plighted 
faith  has  no  meaning,  where  the  chastity  of  women 
has  no  protection;  this  land  where  intrigue  flour 
ishes,  where  spies  swarm,  where  men  smile  and  lie; 
this  land  of  head-hunters;  this  Gethsemane  of 
civilization  where  women  and  children  weep  before 
they  are  crucified;  this  land  in  which,  whether  we 
will  or  no,  we  must  all  dwell. 

The  doctrine  of  unconditioned  sovereignty — 
and  that  alone — has  filled  this  land  with  Horrors. 
It  should  be  the  Land  of  Promise,  because  it  is 
the  unexplored  continent  of  human  brotherhood. 

We  of  Japan  and  America  must  unite  to  slay 
its  artificial  monsters,  to  banish  its  unnatural 
terrors.  Otherwise  sovereignty  will  go  on  quarrel 
ing  with  sovereignty,  human  butchery  will  be  as 
unchecked  as  it  has  been  for  centuries  past,  until 
that  day  arrives  when  the  titular  head  of  a  really 
unconditioned  sovereignty  shall  set  his  heel  upon 
the  neck  of  the  world. 


TREATY  OBLIGATIONS1 

BY  HON.  ELIHU  ROOT 

Ex-Secretary  of  State,  ex-United  States  Senator 

IT  is  impossible  that  the  human  mind  should  be 
addressed  to  questions  better  worth  its  noblest 
efforts,  offering  a  greater  opportunity  for  useful 
ness  in  the  exercise  of  its  powers,  or  more  full 
historical  and  contemporary  interest,  than  in  the 
field  of  international  rights  and  duties.  The 
change  in  the  theory  and  practice  of  government, 
which  has  marked  the  century  since  the  establish 
ment  of  the  American  Union,  has  shifted  the 
determination  of  great  questions  of  domestic 
national  policy  from  a  few  rulers  in  each  country 
to  the  great  body  of  the  people,  who  render  the 
ultimate  decision  under  all  modern  constitutional 
governments.  Coincident  with  that  change  the 
practice  of  diplomacy  has  ceased  to  be  a  mystery 
confined  to  a  few  learned  men  who  strive  to  give 
effect  to  the  wishes  of  personal  rulers,  and  has 

1  These  extracts  are  from  an  address  on  the  treaty  obligations 
of  the  United  States  with  Japan  (cited  with  the  permission  of 
the  author)  given  at  Washington  before  the  American  Society 
of  International  Law,  on  the  igth  of  April,  1907. 

175 


176  America  to  Japan 

become  a  representative  function  answering  to  the 
opinions  and  the  will  of  the  multitude  of  citizens, 
who  themselves  create  the  relations  between  states 
and  determine  the  issues  of  friendship  and  estrange 
ment,  of  peace  and  war.  Under  the  new  system 
there  are  many  dangers  from  which  the  old  system 
was  free.  The  rules  and  customs  which  the  experi 
ence  of  centuries  had  shown  to  be  essential  to  the 
maintenance  of  peace  and  good  understanding 
between  nations  have  little  weight  with  the  new 
popular  masters  of  diplomacy;  the  precedents  and 
agreements  of  opinion  which  have  carried  so  great 
a  part  of  the  rights  and  duties  of  nations  toward 
each  other  beyond  the  pale  of  discussion  are  but 
little  understood.  The  education  of  public  opinion, 
which  should  lead  the  sovereign  people  in  each 
country  to  understand  the  definite  limitations 
upon  national  rights  and  the  full  scope  and 
responsibility  of  national  duties,  has  only  just  be 
gun.  Information,  understanding,  leadership  of 
opinion  in  these  matters,  so  vital  to  wise  judg 
ment  and  right  action  in  international  affairs, 
are  much  needed. 


[Senator  Root  then  outlined  the  development  of  the 
public  school  system  in  California  in  its  relation  to  the 
education  of  Japanese  children,  pointing  out  and 
explaining  some  of  the  mooted  questions  in  Cali 
fornia's  constitution  that  were  closely  related  to 
the  Treaty  of  November  22,  1894,  between  Japan  and 
the  United  States.] 


Treaty  Obligations  17? 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  be  able  to  say  that  never  for  a 
moment  was  there,  as  between  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  and  the  Government  of  Japan, 
the  slightest  departure  from  perfect  good  temper, 
mutual  confidence,  and  kindly  consideration;  and 
that  no  sooner  had  the  views  and  purposes  of  the 
Governments  of  the  United  States,  the  State  of 
California,  and  the  city  of  San  Francisco  been 
explained  by  each  to  the  other  than  entire  harmony 
and  good  understanding  resulted,  with  a  common 
desire  to  exercise  the  powers  vested  in  each,  for 
the  common  good  of  the  whole  country,  of  the 
State,  and  of  the  city. 

In  the  distribution  of  powers  under  our  com 
posite  system  of  government  the  people  of  San 
Francisco  had  three  sets  of  interests  committed 
to  three  different  sets  of  officers — their  special 
interest  as  citizens  of  the  principal  city  and  com 
mercial  port  of  the  Pacific  Coast  represented  by  the 
city  government  of  San  Francisco ;  their  interest  in 
common  with  all  the  people  of  the  State  of  Califor 
nia  represented  by  the  Governor  and  Legislature 
at  Sacramento ;  and  their  interests  in  common  with 
all  the  people  of  the  United  States  represented  by 
the  National  Government  at  Washington.  Each 
one  of  these  three  different  governmental  agencies 
had  authority  to  do  certain  things  relating  to  the 
treatment  of  Japanese  residents  in  San  Francisco. 
These  three  interests  could  not  be  really  in  conflict ; 
for  the  best  interest  of  the  whole  country  is  always 
the  true  interest  of  every  State  and  city,  and  the 


178  America  to  Japan 

protection  of  the  interests  of  every  locality  in  the 
country  is  always  the  true  interest  of  the  nation. 
There  was,  however,  a  supposed  or  apparent 
clashing  of  interests,  and,  to  do  away  with  this, 
conference,  communication,  comparison  of  views, 
explanation  of  policy  and  purpose  were  necessary. 
Many  thoughtless  and  some  mischievous  persons 
have  spoken  and  written  regarding  these  confer 
ences  and  communications  as  if  they  were  the 
parleying  and  compromise  of  enemies.  On  the 
contrary,  they  were  an  example  of  the  way  in 
which  the  public  business  ought  always  to  be 
conducted;  so  that  the  different  public  officers 
respectively  charged  with  the  performance  of 
duties  affecting  the  same  subject-matter  may  work 
together  in  furtherance  of  the  same  public  policy 
and  with  a  common  purpose  for  the  good  of  the 
whole  country  and  every  part  of  the  country. 
Such  a  concert  of  action  with  such  a  purpose  was 
established  by  the  conferences  and  communica 
tions  between  the  national  authorities  and  the 
authorities  of  California  and  San  Francisco  which 
followed  the  passage  of  the  Board  of  Education 
resolution. 

There  was  one  great  and  serious  question  under 
lying  the  whole  subject  which  made  all  questions 
of  construction  and  of  scope  and  of  effect  of  the 
treaty  itself — all  questions  as  to  whether  the  claims 
of  Japan  were  well  founded  or  not;  all  questions 
as  to  whether  the  resolution  of  the  school  board  was 
valid  or  not — seem  temporary  and  comparatively 


Treaty  Obligations  179 

unimportant.  It  was  not  a  question  of  war  with 
Japan.  All  the  foolish  talk  about  war  was  purely 
sensational  and  imaginative.  There  was  never 
even  friction  between  the  two  Governments.  The 
question  was,  What  state  of  feeling  would  be 
created  between  the  great  body  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States  and  the  great  body  of  the  people 
of  Japan  as  a  result  of  the  treatment  given  to  the 
Japanese  in  this  country? 

What  was  to  be  the  effect  upon  that  proud, 
sensitive,  highly  civilized  people  across  the  Pacific 
of  the  discourtesy,  insult,  imputations  of  inferiority 
and  abuse  aimed  at  them  in  the  columns  of 
American  newspapers  and  from  the  platforms  of 
American  public  meetings?  What  would  be  the 
effect  upon  our  own  people  of  the  responses  that 
natural  resentment  for  such  treatment  would 
elicit  from  the  Japanese? 

The  first  article  of  the  first  treaty  Japan  ever 
made  with  a  Western  power  provided : 

There  shall  be  a  perfect,  permanent,  and  universal 
peace  and  a  sincere  and  cordial  amity  between  the 
United  States  of  America  on  the  one  part,  and  the 
empire  of  Japan  on  the  other  part,  and  between  their 
people  respectively,  without  exception  of  persons  or 
places. 

Under  that  treaty,  which  bore  the  signature  of 
Matthew  Calbraith  Perry,  we  introduced  Japan 
to  the  world  of  Western  civilization.  We  had 
always  been  proud  of  her  wonderful  development 


i8o  America  to  Japan 

—proud  of  the  genius  of  the  race  that  in  a  single 
generation  adapted  an  ancient  feudal  system  of 
the  Far  East  to  the  most  advanced  standards  of 
modern  Europe  and  America.  The  friendship 
between  the  two  nations  had  been  peculiar  and 
close.  Was  the  declaration  of  that  treaty  to  be 
set  aside?  At  Kurihama,  in  Japan,  stands  a 
monument  to  Commodore  Perry,  raised  by  the 
Japanese  in  grateful  appreciation,  upon  the  site 
where  he  landed  and  opened  negotiations  for  the 
treaty.  Was  that  monument  henceforth  to  repre 
sent  dislike  and  resentment?  Were  the  two 
peoples  to  face  each  other  across  the  Pacific  in 
future  years  with  angry  and  resentful  feelings? 
All  this  was  inevitable  if  the  process  which  seemed 
to  have  begun  was  to  continue,  and  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  looked  with  the  great 
est  solicitude  upon  the  possibility  that  the  process 
might  continue. 

It  is  hard  for  democracy  to  learn  the  responsi 
bilities  of  its  power;  but  the  people  now,  not 
governments,  make  friendship  or  dislike,  sym 
pathy  or  discord,  peace  or  war,  between  nations. 
In  this  modern  day,  through  the  columns  of  the 
myriad  press  and  messages  flashing  over  countless 
wires,  multitude  calls  to  multitude  across  boun 
daries  and  oceans  in  courtesy  or  insult,  in  amity  or 
in  defiance.  Foreign  officers  and  ambassadors  and 
ministers  no  longer  keep  or  break  the  peace,  but 
the  conduct  of  each  people  toward  every  other. 
The  people  who  permit  themselves  to  treat  the 


Treaty  Obligations  181 

people  are  surely  sowing  the  wind  to  reap  the 
whirlwind,  for  a  world  of  sullen  and  revengeful 
hatred  can  never  be  a  world  of  peace.  Against 
such  a  feeling  treaties  are  waste  paper  and  diplo 
macy  the  empty  routine  of  idle  form.  The  great 
question  which  overshadowed  all  discussion  of  the 
Treaty  of  1894  was  tne  question:  Are  the  people 
of  the  United  States  about  to  break  friendship 
with  the  people  of  Japan?  That  question,  I  be 
lieve,  has  been  happily  answered  in  the  negative. 


TO  OUR   NEAR   NEIGHBOR  IN   THE  FAR 
EAST 

BY  DEAN  C.   WORCESTER 

Author;  Member,  First  and  Second  United  States  Philippine 

Commissions;  Secretary  of  the  Interior, 

Philippines,  1901-1913 

I  HAVE  read  with  the  keenest  interest  Japan's 
Message  to  America  and  am  honored  by  the  oppor 
tunity  to  join  in  a  reciprocal  communication  which 
I  hope  may  promote  even  better  relations  and 
stronger  friendship  than  now  exist  between  your 
people  and  mine. 

In  August,  1887,  when  a  boy  of  twenty,  I 
landed  at  Yokohama  and,  as  it  seemed,  stepped 
straight  into  fairyland.  I  shall  never  forget  the 
pleasure  of  this  my  first  visit  to  your  wonderful 
country,  and  have  ever  since  been  one  of  your 
many  American  well-wishers. 

During  the  succeeding  twenty-eight  years  it  has 
been  my  privilege  to  revisit  Japan  on  thirteen 
different  occasions.  I  have  wandered  through  the 
byways  of  your  great  capital  city,  an  interested 
observer  of  the  industrious,  frugal  life  of  your 
people.  At  times  when  anti-American  feeling 

182 


Our  Near  Neighbor  in  the  Far  East    183 

was  said  to  prevail,  I  have  been  treated  with 
unfailing  courtesy  and  kindness. 

I  have  met  your  great  ruler  Mutsu  Hito  and 
others  of  your  statesmen,  and  have  been  impressed 
with  their  progressive  spirit,  the  thoroughness  of 
their  knowledge,  and  the  saneness  of  their  judg 
ment.  I  have  watched  with  sympathetic  inter 
est  not  the  "civilization"  (Heaven  save  the 
mark!)  but  the  modernization  of  Japan  and  have 
admired  the  spirit  in  which  you  have  met  the 
manifold  and  complex  problems  which  your  recent 
unprecedented  progress  has  presented  for  your 
solution. 

I  have  been  thrilled  by  the  splendid  patriotism 
shown  by  your  people  and  the  dauntless  courage 
of  your  soldiers  and  sailors.  Indeed  I  fear  that 
I  have  not  always  in  my  heart  observed  the  rule 
of  strict  neutrality  when  you  were  facing  a  mighty 
foe. 

Long  before  I  first  visited  Japan  you  had  begun 
to  demonstrate  the  wisdom  of  that  old  saying, 
" Prove  all  things;  hold  fast  that  which  is  good," 
and  with  a  liberality  as  rare  as  it  was  commend 
able,  you  were  sending  men  of  experience  and  dem 
onstrated  ability  to  observe  and  study  methods 
and  conditions  in  other  lands. 

When  a  student  at  the  University  of  Michigan 
I  received  instruction  side  by  side  with  some 
of  your  bright,  keen  young  men,  and  later  gave 
instruction  in  biological  science  to  others.  It  is 
but  natural  that  I  should  have  been  especially 


1 84  America  to  Japan 

delighted  at  your  remarkably  successful  applica 
tion  of  modern  scientific  methods  to  the  solution 
of  sanitary  problems,  to  the  healing  of  the  sick  and 
the  injured,  and  to  the  combating  of  dangerous 
communicable  diseases. 

I  know  enough  of  you  and  your  country  to  wish 
that  I  knew  much  more,  and  to  regret  that  so 
many  of  my  countrymen  know  even  less,  for  it  is 
growing  increasingly  important  that  Americans  and 
Japanese  should  thoroughly  understand  each  other. 

When  I  first  visited  the  Far  East  the  United 
States  and  Japan  were  neighbors  indeed,  but  by  no 
means  near  neighbors.  The  broad  Pacific  rolled 
between  your  territory  and  ours.  Who  could  then 
have  foreseen  that  in  a  few  short  years  only  the 
Bashi  Channel,  less  than  a  hundred  miles  wide, 
would  separate  our  insular  possessions? 

Even  the  mainlands  of  our  respective  countries 
have  been  brought  much  nearer  each  other,  for  we 
must  measure  the  width  of  the  Pacific  not  in  miles 
but  in  the  time  necessary  to  cross  it,  and  the  in 
creasing  swiftness  of  ocean  steamers  is  steadily 
reducing  this,  while  the  wonderful  development 
of  wireless  telegraphy  renders  it  not  improbable 
that  Yokohama  and  San  Francisco  may  soon  be 
able  to  communicate  directly  by  the  interchange  of 
radiograms.  Indeed,  who  shall  say  that  in  the 
comparatively  near  future  the  people  of  these 
cities  may  not  talk  to  each  other  under  the  sea 
or  through  the  air?  Of  necessity  this  increasing 
nearness  has  brought  its  problems.  We  have 


Our  Near  Neighbor  in  the  Far  East    185 

annexed  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  where  many  of  your 
people  live  under  our  rule.  In  California  Japan 
ese  have  been  denied  privileges  accorded  to  other 
foreigners  in  many  states  of  the  Union. 

There  has  been  some  talk,  on  this  side  of  the 
water,  of  a  "Yellow  Peril"  by  certain  of  our 
citizens  who  seem  not  to  have  grasped  the  funda 
mental  fact  that  the  intellectual  and  moral  char 
acteristics  of  a  people  rather  than  the  color  of  the 
skins  of  the  individuals  who  go  to  compose  it 
determine  whether  or  not  that  people  is  likely  to  be 
a  peril  to  well-behaved  neighbors,  but  most  of  us 
remember  the  commendable  moderation  and  self- 
restraint  which  your  government  has  sometimes 
shown  under  rather  trying  circumstances  in  its 
dealings  with  ours,  an$/there  are  many  of  us  who  s 
believe  that  if  the  "Yellow  Peril"  ever  becomes  a  / 
reality  the  fault  will  be  largely  our  own.^ 

Some  of  our  citizens  have  expressed  the  belief 
that  you  would  ultimately  fight  us  for  the  trade  of 
the  Pacific.  To  one  reasonably  conversant  with 
the  actual  facts  this  theory  has  its  humorous  side. 
You  could  hardly  take  and  hold  this  trade  in  such 
a  way,  for  although  our  present  military  unpre- 
paredness  is  in  rather  striking  contrast  with  your 
own  readiness,  and  although  as  a  people  we  are 
slow  to  anger,  we  are  fairly  persevering  in  meeting 
trouble  when  it  is  forced  upon  us,  and  are  fortunate 
in  the  possession  of  an  abundance  of  those  re 
sources  necessary  for  the  successful  waging  on  a 
large  scale  of  long-drawn-out  naval  warfare. 


1 86  America  to  Japan 

The  commercial  mastery  of  the  Pacific,  if  ob 
tained  and  held  by  force,  obviously  depends  on 
sea  power,  but  you  have  been  wise  enough  to  grasp 
the  fact  that  possession  is  nine  points  of  the  law 
and  that  there  is  another  and  far  better  way  of 
securing  a  controlling  interest  in  the  already  vast 
and  rapidly  growing  commerce  of  this  region. 
You  are  intelligently  and  systematically  studying 
and  seeking  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  teeming 
millions  which  people  the  lands  washed  by  this 
mighty  ocean.  Your  own  ships  are  carrying  your 
goods  to  these  countries  in  ever  increasing  quanti 
ties.  We  have  comparatively  few  American  ships, 
and  most  of  our  merchants  have  been  too  prosper 
ous  to  "bother"  about  trade  with  China  or  other 
Far  Eastern  countries.  While  they  doze  you  are 
snatching  it  from  under  their  noses!  At  present 
you  have  only  to  help  yourselves.  We  certainly 
need  not  expect  you  to  fight  us  for  the  amusement 
of  the  thing  and  that  is  where  the  joke  comes  in! 
Some  day  our  manufacturers  and  exporters  will 
wake  up  and  then  you  will  get  very  real  and  keen 
competition  in  certain  lines,  but  you  know  us  too 
well  to  believe  that  we  would  quarrel  with  you  to 
get  trade,  and  we  know  you  well  enough  to  feel 
sure  that  you  will  not  begrudge  us  such  share  in 
the  commerce  of  the  Far  East  as  we  can  win  by 
peaceful  means. 

Not  a  few  Americans  have  been  obsessed  with 
the  idea  that  you  would  ultimately  fight  us  to  get 


Our  Near  Neighbor  in  the  Far  East    187 

the  Philippines.  I  confess  to  incredulity  when 
some  of  your  public  speakers  tell  us  that  you  do  not 
consider  these  potentially  very  rich  Islands  worth 
having.  You  know  them  too  well.  Neither  does 
it  seem  probable  that  your  experiences  in  Formosa 
would  deter  you  from  improving  a  really  favorable 
opportunity  to  extend  your  possessions  farther 
southward.  You  are  not  so  easily  discouraged. 

But  we  believe  that  it  would  be  foolish  for  you 
to  attempt  to  take  the  Philippines  from  us,  and 
we  do  not  believe  that  you  are  a  foolish  people. 
With  the  opportunities  for  expansion  which  you 
now  have,  possession  of  the  Philippines  would  be 
a  pitifully  insignificant  compensation  for  the  moral 
and  material  loss  which  would  result  were  you  thus 
to  earn  for  yourself  the  hostility  of  your  oldest  and 
best  friend  among  the  nations. 

There  remain  certain  real  dangers  which  are 
worthy  of  serious  consideration.  Your  statesmen 
and  ours  understand  each  other  well  enough 
properly  to  appreciate  each  other.  With  them 
the  reasons  which  led  to  the  cementing  of  the 
friendship  which  has  so  long  existed  between  our 
countries  make  for  its  continuance,  but  it  must 
be  admitted  that  many  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  are  lamentably  ignorant  of  Japan  and  the 
Japanese,  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that  many  of  the 
Japanese  still  have  much  to  learn  of  our  land,  its 
inhabitants,  its  Government,  and  its  policies. 

Here  in  the  United  States  we  are  now  facing 
very  serious  problems  which  are  the  outgrowth  of 


1 88  America  to  Japan 

a  period  of  long  and  very  rapid  commercial  devel 
opment.  It  happens  that  they  have  become  es 
pecially  acute  in  some  of  our  westernmost  States. 
Should  the  period  of  great  commercial  activity 
on  which  you  have  entered  long  continue,  as  we 
hope  it  may,  you  will  learn  more  by  experience 
than  you  yet  know,  of  the  troubles  caused  by  the 
conflict  between  organized  capital  and  organized 
labor  and  will  then  be  able  to  understand  better 
than  you  can  at  present  why  the  presence  of 
orderly  and  diligent  Japanese  laborers  has  caused 
trouble  in  the  United  States. 

One  of  the  contributors  to  Japan's  Message 
to  America  argues  that  your  labor  is  both  good 
and  cheap  and  cannot  see  why  we  should  not 
therefore  welcome  it,  failing,  not  unnaturally,  to 
understand  that  its  goodness  and  cheapness  are 
the  very  things  to  which  certain  of  our  people 
really  object,  although  careful  to  assign  other 
reasons  for  their  hostile  attitude. 

With  the  growth  of  socialism  in  your  country 
you  may  ultimately  appreciate  more  fully  than  at 
present  the  difficulties  that  the  best  intentioned 
Government  may  experience  in  controlling  the 
conduct  of  extremists.  Thus  far  you  have  dealt 
somewhat  sternly,  and  apparently  very  success 
fully,  with  your  own  socialistic  troubles,  and  it 
must  be  admitted  that  your  form  of  Government 
may  prove  to  be  better  suited  to  coping  with  such 
evils  than  is  ours.  We  are  still  facing  some  serious 
difficulties  growing  out  of  the  relationship  between 


Our  Near  Neighbor  in  the  Far  East    189 

our  State  and  national  Governments,  and  we 
expect  you  to  make  due  allowance  for  this  fact, 
bearing  constantly  and  clearly  in  mind  the  friend 
liness  which  our  national  Government  has  always 
displayed  toward  yours.  Your  statesmen,  your 
scholars,  your  soldiers,  and  your  captains  of 
industry  have  been  gladly  welcomed  and  highly 
honored  in  the  United  States,  and  we  feel  that  this 
fact  should  far  outweigh  the  troubles  which  have 
sometimes  arisen  between  representatives  of  your 
laboring  class  and  of  ours. 

It  would  be  idle  to  deny  that  in  many  ways  the 
great  mass  of  your  people  and  that  of  ours  differ 
from  each  other  profoundly.  It  is  fair  to  assume 
that  present  conditions  will  not  always  endure, 
but  the  change  will  necessarily  be  very  gradual. 
Meanwhile,  we  must  look  the  facts  in  the  face. 
The  questions  which  have  arisen  between  us  do  not 
in  reality  involve  the  superiority  of  the  one  people 
or  the  other.  You,  who  represent  an  ancient 
civilization  successfully  modified  and  adapted  to 
modern  conditions,  can  well  afford  to  smile  at  the 
temerity  of  those  who  boast  too  loudly  of  the 
virtues  of  a  social  system  so  short-lived  as  is  that 
of  the  United  States.  Each  has  its  advantages  and 
its  defects,  and  the  adherents  of  the  one  can  ill 
afford  to  show  contempt  for  the  adherents  of  the 
other,  yet  until  human  nature  changes  profoundly 
for  the  better  the  masses  in  each  country  will 
probably  continue  to  maintain  that  "Orthodoxy 
is  my  'doxy  and  heterodoxy  is  your  'doxy!'1 


190  America  to  Japan 

Suffice  it,  therefore,  that  we  are  different  and 
that  where  representatives  of  two  very  distinct 
peoples  which  do  not  readily  assimilate  live  in  close 
contact  with  each  other,  troubles  sometimes  neces 
sarily  arise.  In  meeting  them  we  should  employ 
that  good  sense  often  called  "common"  which 
fortunately  is  common  to  educated  and  intelligent 
Americans  and  Japanese.  When  you  are  inclined 
to  grow  indignant  over  the  treatment  accorded 
your  laborers  and  your  school  children  in  Cali 
fornia — and  I  confess  to  the  belief  that  you  have 
sometimes  had  ground  for  indignation — ask  your 
selves  whether  you  have  extended,  or  could  extend, 
to  Americans  in  Japan  all  of  the  privileges  which 
you  have  sought  for  your  citizens  in  the  western 
part  of  our  country.  Would  not  colonies  of 
Americans,  owning  land,  living  apart  from  your 
people,  and  retaining  their  own  language  and  cus 
toms,  create  some  problems  for  you  in  Japan? 

What  a  victory  it  would  be  for  civilization  if 
our  two  nations,  of  different  races,  the  Easterners 
of  the  Orient  and  the  Westerners  of  the  Occident, 
the  representatives  of  a  very  ancient  civilization 
and  those  of  a  civilization  of  comparatively  recent 
growth,  could  continue  to  settle  their  differences 
honorably  and  amicably  in  mutual  respect  and 
esteem ! 

Ignorance  and  prejudice  are  the  greatest  ob 
stacles  to  such  a  result.  If  a  tithe  of  the  effort 
and  money  which  a  senseless  armed  struggle 
between  Japan  and  the  United  States  would  cost 


Our  Near  Neighbor  in  the  Far  East    191 

were  seasonably  and  intelligently  devoted  to  dis 
pelling  these  twin  evils  and  to  making  the  many 
good  qualities  of  each  people  known  to  and  ap 
preciated  by  the  other,  lasting  friendship  would 
result. 

The  present  interchange  of  messages  between 
representative  citizens  of  both  nations  is  a  long 
step  in  the  right  direction;  and  cannot  fail  to  lead 
to  a  better  understanding. 


COMMON   INTERESTS 

BY  ARTHUR  BULLARD 

Author,  Special  Correspondent 

THE  year  1915  finds  the  great  nations  of  Europe 
still  at  war.  Whether  the  conflagration  was 
started  by  Russia's  desire  for  the  Straits  or  Ger 
many's  desire  for  the  Channel  ports,  it  is  evident 
that  the  background  of  the  war  is  the  ancient 
tradition  that  prosperity  can  be  won  by  the  sword. 
This  idea — the  basic  conception  of  Imperialism — 
still  has  force  in  Europe. 

The  United  States — like  Japan — is  a  compara 
tively  new-comer  in  the  council  of  the  Powers. 
Our  policies  are  not  hampered  by  this  old  tradition. 
We  do  not  estimate  our  worth  in  terms  of  con 
quered  territory.  Having  been  born  into  a  uni 
verse  of  science  and  steam  transportation,  we 
value  social  peace  and  cordial  trade  relations  more 
highly  than  unwilling  colonies. 

That  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  not  bent 
on  territorial  aggrandizement  is  amply  demon 
strated  by  the  Mexican  situation.  Our  European 
friends  find  it  difficult  to  understand  why  we  have 
not  annexed  our  southern  neighbor.  It  is  hard  to 
make  them  realize  that  we  do  not  want  to. 

192 


Common  Interests  193 

The  few  colonies  we  control  are  a  drain  on  us, 
not  a  resource.  We  do  not  want  more.  So  there 
is  small  chance  that  territorial  greed  will  lead  us 
into  conflict  with  you. 

^/Nine^tenths  of  the  "distrust  of  Japan"  which 
can  be  found  among  us — and  the  sum  of  it  is  not 
great — is  based  on  a  fear  of  this  word ;  fear  that  it  is 
your  ideal  to  rival  Alexander,  Cassar,  Napoleon; 
to  create  a  grandiose  Empire  of  the  East,  to  es 
tablish  military  domination  over  the  continent  of 
Asia  and  the  Oriental  Seas — in  short — to  be  the' 
Prussians  of  the  East.^Such  ideals  are  not  popular 
in  America. 

Personally,  I  have  tried  to  live  up  to  the  seven 
teenth  rule  of  Fukuzawa's  Moral  Code — "Treat 
others  with  trustfulness."  I  have  not  worried 
over  a  possible  sinister  trend  to  your  ambitions. 
I  cannot  see  why  Japan,  a  new-comer  among 
the  Great  Nations,  should  be  dominated  by  an 
ideal  which  is  not  modern.  But  I  believe  that  all 
Japanese  who  desire  to  ameliorate  the  relations 
between  the  two  countries — which  are,  as  Mr. 
Asano  says,  destined  to  play  the  principal  roles 
in  the  development  of  the  Pacific — would  do  well 
to  reassure  our  distrustful  ones  on  this  point. 

If  we  banish  this  specter  of  hectic  territorial 
greed,  there  is  no  ground  for  rivalry  between  our 
two  nations,  except  in  Commerce.  Commercial 
competition  will  doubtless  grow  in  intensity  as  the 
United  States  becomes  more  fully  developed  and 
to  a  larger  extent  an  exporting  nation.  But  two 
13 


J94  America  to  Japan 

citizens  of  the  same  nation  do  not  come  to  blows 
over  their  business  rivalry;  I  see  no  reason  why 
Governments  should. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  are  only  grad 
ually  developing  a  "foreign  policy."  We  have 
not  yet  caught  up  with  the  immense  expanse  of  our 
own  territory.  Slowly  we  are  making  progress  in 
our  great  task  of  welding  the  most  diverse  elements 
into  a  homogeneous  democracy.  The  ideal  has 
been  set  for  us  by  the  great  men  of  our  history. 
But  we  have  not  yet  attained  to  it.  Faced  by 
manifold  internal  cares,  it  is  only  reluctantly  that 
we  turn  our  attention  to  problems  beyond  our 
borders. 

But  it  is  safe  to  prophesy  that  as  we  are  forced 
to  meet  these  new,  international  problems,  we 
will  approach  them  in  the  same  spirit  with  which 
we  are  trying  to  infuse  our  national  life. 

If  our  hopes  of  democracy  and  social  justice 
triumph  at  home — as  they  surely  will — we  will  not 
bring  into  the  Pacific  any  ambitions  with  which 
liberal  Japan  can  quarrel — we  confidently  expect 
the  cordial  cooperation  of  the  Japanese  in  the 
realization  of  these  ideals  on  the  islands  and  coasts 
of  the  Greatest  Ocean — the  very  name  of  which  is 
a  promise  of  peace. 


THE  LINK  OF  LITERATURE 


BY  C.  ALPHONSO  SMITH 

Poe  Professor  of  English,  University  of  Virginia;  Exchange 
Professor  with  Berlin,  1910-1911. 


HARDLY  a  day  passes  in  which  the  people  of 
Japan  and  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  not 
compelled  to  think  of  each  other  in  terms  of  flaring 
newspaper  headlines,  and  the  headlines  put  the 
emphasis  on  differences.  I  doubt  whether  there 
are  any  two  friends  in  the  world  whose  friendship 
would  not  at  times  be  strained  if  an  intermediary, 
however  honest  his  intentions,  should  set  himself 
the  daily  task  of  blazoning  every  thought,  word, 
and  deed  in  which  he  detected  personal  differences 
and  possible  alienation.  The  only  safeguard  would 
be  for  the  two  friends  to  fall  back  upon  their 
permanent  fund  of  common  traits  and  enduring 
ideals.  Such  a  point  de  repere  for  nations  is  found 
in  literature. 

When  Thackeray  spoke  of  Washington  Irving 
as  the  "first  ambassador  whom  the  New  World  of 
Letters  sent  to  the  Old,"  he  paid  a  tribute  not 

195 


196  America  to  Japan 

only  to  Irving  but  to  literature.  His  words  remind 
us  that  literature  is  an  international  concern,  that 
it  not  only  interprets  and  thus  emancipates  the 
spirit  of  the  nation  that  originates  it  but  links 
nation  to  nation  and  people  to  people  in  a  bond  of 
common  ideals  and  common  sympathies.  Of  the 
brilliant  lectures  delivered  before  the  University 
of  Virginia  by  Dr.  Inazo  Nitobe,  the  Japanese 
Exchange  Professor  for  1911-1912,  none  made  so 
deep  an  impression,  none  so  endeared  the  name  of 
the  speaker,  and  none  so  touched  the  elemental 
impulses  of  the  hearers,  as  one  which  does  not  of 
course  appear  in  The  Japanese  Nation.  It  was 
an  impromptu  address  on  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  the 
occasion  being  a  memorial  concert  given  in  honor 
of  Elizabeth  Arnold  Poe,  the  poet's  mother. 

Literature  is  an  international  link  because  it  is 
the  best  expression  of  a  nation's  inner  life.  Long 
before  American  magazines  and  public  speakers 
began  to  busy  themselves  with  the  real  meaning 
of  Americanism,  Europe  had  formed  or  was  form 
ing  its  own  idea  of  the  word  from  reading  Franklin, 
Jefferson,  Irving,  Cooper,  Poe,  Hawthorne,  Long 
fellow,  Emerson,  Bret  Harte,  Mark  Twain,  and 
Walt  Whitman.  These  men  not  only  express  with 
varying  fullness  the  national  spirit  but  are  in  a 
very  real  sense  the  ambassadors  from  the  New 
World  to  the  Old.  To  understand  them,  to  com 
mune  with  them,  to  appraise  their  excellencies  and 
their  limitations,  to  realize  that  consciously  or 
unconsciously  they  are  the  exponents  of  Amer- 


The  Link  of  Literature  19? 

icanism,  is  to  know  what  America  is  and  what  it 
stands  for. 

Japan  is  already  a  reader,  and  an  appreciative 
reader,  of  the  best  American  literature,  but  she  has 
not  yet  contributed  to  the  interpretation  of  Ameri 
can  literature.  We  do  not  associate  Japan  with 
our  literature  as  we  associate  France,  Germany, 
and  of  course  Great  Britain.  These  nations  have 
contributed  constructive  criticism  and  have  thus 
linked  their  literary  thought  with  our  own.  But 
we  need  to  be  linked  to  Japan  in  the  same  sort 
of  literary  interchange.  No  literature  can  longer 
afford  to  be  hemispherical.  The  symbol  of  the 
twentieth  century  is  the  sphere,  not  the  hemi 
sphere.  American  literature  is  not  hemispherical 
in  its  appeal  but  it  is  hemispherical  in  its  utiliza 
tion  of  foreign  criticism.  It  needs  the  Oriental 
note. 

The  very  distance  and  difference  of  one  nation 
from  another  seem  often  to  clarify  and  to  enlarge 
the  critical  judgment.  No  Englishman  could  have 
written  Taine's  Histoire  de  la  litter ature  anglaise  or 
Ten  Brink's  Geschichte  der  Englischen  Literatur; 
no  Scotchman  could  have  written  August  Angel- 
lier's  Robert  Burns;  no  Englishman  or  Scotchman 
could  have  written  Child's  English  and  Scottish 
Popular  Ballads;  and  no  American  could  have 
written  De  Tocqueville's  Democratic  en  Amerique 
or  Bryce's  American  Commonwealth.  The  same 
data  might  have  been  amassed  and  the  same 
general  method  pursued,  but  the  interpretation 


198  America  to  Japan 

would  have  been  not  only  different  but  far  less 
adequate  and  quickening. 

Addison  touched  upon  a  bigger  thought  than 
he  realized  when  he  said:  "I  am  very  well  versed 
in  the  theory  of  a  husband  or  a  father,  and  can 
discern  the  errors  in  the  economy,  business,  and 
diversion  of  others  better  than  those  who  are 
engaged  in  them,  as  standers-by  discover  blots 
which  are  apt  to  escape  those  who  are  in  the  game." 

But  it  is  not  a  question  of  blots.  The  critics 
whom  I  have  mentioned  performed  a  national  and 
international  service  not  by  discovering  blots  but 
by  bringing  to  bear  a  new  angle  of  vision.  They 
brought  to  their  task,  by  their  very  difference  of 
race  and  nationality,  a  breadth  of  comparison,  a 
quick  analogical  sense,  a  feeling  for  what  is  central 
and  essential,  a  consciousness  of  the  unlike  amid  the 
like  and  the  like  amid  the  unlike  that  could  hardly 
have  been  attained  by  one  to  the  manner  born. 
Each  of  them  not  only  revealed  new  tendencies  and 
possible  reaches  in  the  subjects  treated  but  linked 
two  nations  in  the  bonds  of  a  reciprocal  interest 
and  understanding. 


II 


Though  American  literature  has  never  had  a 
Taine  it  owes  much  to  the  dispassionate  appraisal 
of  foreigners.  While  they  have  erred  in  expecting 
our  literature  to  be  big,  burly,  and  bizarre,  they 
have  paid  ungrudging  tribute  to  the  three  real  and 


The  Link  of  Literature  199 

distinctive  contributions  that  American  literature 
has  made  to  world  thought. 

They  have  recognized  that  American  literature 
is,  first  of  all,  a  pioneer  literature. 

The  frontier  [says  an  American  historian]  is  pro 
ductive  of  individualism.  Complex  society  is  pre 
cipitated  by  the  wilderness  into  a  kind  of  primitive 
organization  based  on  the  family.  The  result  is  that 
to  the  frontier  the  American  intellect  owes  its  striking 
characteristics.  What  the  Mediterranean  Sea  was 
to  the  Greeks,  breaking  the  bond  of  custom,  offering 
new  experiences,  calling  out  new  institutions  and 
activities,  that,  and  more,  the  ever-retreating  frontier 
has  been  to  the  United  States. 

But  more  than  this  may  be  said.  What  the 
fact  of  a  frontier  has  been  to  our  history,  the 
consciousness  of  a  frontier  has  been  to  our  litera 
ture.  James  Fenimore  Cooper  stood  upon  the 
physical,  territorial  frontier  and  sketched  an 
advancing  and  a  receding  civilization.  What 
Cooper  did  for  the  State  of  New  York,  Mark 
Twain  did  for  the  Middle  West,  and  Bret  Harte 
for  the  extreme  West.  Joel  Chandler  Harris  did 
for  the  negro  what  Cooper  did  for  the  Indian:  as 
Chingachgook  was  the  last  of  the  Mohicans,  so 
Uncle  Remus  may  be  considered  the  last  of  the 
old-time  Southern  negroes.  In  William  Cullen 
Bryant's  verse  we  see  the  frontier  of  the  growing 
city  impinging  upon  the  quietude  and  freedom  of 
the  forest.  Hawthorne  stood  upon  the  frontier  of 


2oo  America  to  Japan 

an  evanishing  Puritanism  and  portrayed  in  alle 
gory  its  struggle  with  a  more  liberal  creed  and  a 
more  humane  practice.  Poe  stood  upon  the  heights 
of  pseudo-science  and  prophesied  the  coming  of 
real  science,  as  Whitman  stood  upon  the  heights 
of  individualism  and  proclaimed  the  overthrow  of 
institutionalism.  Emerson  and  the  other  trans- 
cendentalists  stood  upon  a  more  purely  spiritual 
frontier,  a  frontier  that  separated  or  rather  united 
the  seen  and  the  unseen,  the  known  and  the  un 
known,  the  actual  and  the  possible.  "America 
means  opportunity,"  said  Emerson — opportunity 
not  to  acquire  material  things  but  to  bridge  the 
chasm  between  the  material  and  the  spiritual. 
William  James,  like  Daniel  Boone,  loved  the  bor 
derlands  where  retreating  shapes  lie  half-revealed 
and  half -concealed.  Henry  James  has  projected 
the  American  borderland  across  the  seas  and  in 
terpreted  it  against  the  background  of  Old  World 
custom.  From  this  consciousness  of  a  frontier 
have  sprung  the  most  essential  characteristics  of 
American  literature — not  only  its  idealism  but 
its  optimism,  its  sanity,  its  humor,  its  vision  of 
something  better  yet  to  be. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  another  cause  of  foreign 
interest  in  American  literature  is  the  prevalence 
in  it  of  American  humor.  From  Benjamin  Frank 
lin  to  Mark  Twain,  Americans  have  been  the 
chief  purveyors  of  wholesome  merriment.  We 
have  not  only  fired  the  laugh  heard  round  the 
world,  but  we  seem  to  have  done  more  than  any 


The  Link  of  Literature  201 

other  nation  to  democratize  laughter  itself.  Pre 
tension,  hypocrisy,  conventionality,  pomposity — 
these  are  the  targets.  "At  bottom,"  says  Dr.  Van 
Dyke,  "American  humor  is  based  upon  the  demo 
cratic  assumption  that  the  artificial  distinctions 
and  conventional  phrases  of  life  are  in  themselves 
amusing."  It  is  based  also  on  the  assumption  that 
the  individual  is  of  more  account  than  the  institu 
tion.  The  American  people  laugh  with  the  man 
who  is  what  he  is  without  sham  or  show;  they 
laugh  at  the  man  whom  the  conventional  trap 
pings  of  society  have  de-individualized  and  thus 
converted  into  the  complacent  representative  of 
a  group.  The  butt  is  usually  an  office-holder; 
because,  in  the  popular  mind,  the  toga  of  office, 
whether  in  church  or  state,  tends  to  institu 
tionalize.  Humor  is,  at  any  rate,  our  national 
lubricant. 

When  Gladstone  was  asked  what  he  considered 
the  leading  characteristic  of  American  humor  he 
promptly  replied,  "Exaggeration,"  and  illustrated 
his  point  by  the  story  of  an  American  merchant 
who,  when  the  price  of  ink  went  up,  claimed  to 
have  saved  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year  by 
not  dotting  his  z's.  Whether  we  commend  or  not 
the  aptness  of  this  illustration,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  from  the  appearance  of  Irving 's  Knicker 
bocker  History  of  New  York  (1809)  to  the  present 
time  exaggeration  has  been  a  constituent  of 
American  humor,  and  the  suggestion  has  been 
made  that  it  is  a  trait  inherited  from  our  full- 


202  America  to  Japan 

blooded  Elizabethan  ancestors.  "Mark  Twain," 
says  a  recent  critic,  "is  the  foremost  of  American 
humorists  because  he  thus  relates  us  to  our 
[Elizabethan]  origins."  On  the  contrary,  Mark 
Twain  is  the  foremost  of  our  humorists  not  because 
he  suggests  the  past  but  solely  because  he  expresses 
the  present.  The  explanation  of  exaggeration  in 
American  humor  is  to  be  sought  primarily  in  the 
bigness  of  things  that  confront  the  American  on  all 
sides.  The  length  of  American  rivers,  the  height 
of  American  mountains,  the  distance  from  north 
to  south  and  from  east  to  west,  the  phenomenal 
growth  of  American  population,  the  gigantic  com 
binations  of  American  capital,  the  varied  products 
of  American  soil — these  things  soon  begot  a  sort  of 
interstate  and  then  international  rivalry  that  found 
ready  expression  in  humorous  overstatement. 

The  European's  appreciation  of  the  skillful  use 
to  which  exaggeration  is  put  in  American  humor 
may  be  measured  in  part  by  the  esteem  in  which 
Mark  Twain's  works  are  held  both  in  England  and 
on  the  continent:  "Since  the  death  of  Charles 
Dickens,"  said  the  Evening  Standard  of  London, 
"no  writer  of  English  has  been  so  generally  read." 
"He  was  more  esteemed  in  Germany,"  said  the 
Berliner  Zeitung  am  Mittag,  "than  all  the  French 
and  English  humorists  put  together."  In  Copen 
hagen  it  is  said  that  Mark  Twain  is  better  under 
stood  by  the  Danes  than  by  the  English,  and  that 
he  is  in  fact  the  founder  of  their  new  school  of 
humor. 


The  Link  of  Literature  203 

Foreigners  have  also  recognized  generously  in 
late  years  the  idealism  of  American  literature. 
There  was  a  time  when  America  was  thought  to  be 
dominated  by  crude  materialistic  aims,  and, 
without  investigating  American  literature,  foreign 
critics  inferred  that  this  too  must  necessarily 
reflect  a  materialistic  purpose.  That  time  has 
passed  and  passed  forever.  Mr.  Bryce,  our  wisest 
critic,  concedes  that  the  Americans  are  more 
idealistic  than  the  English  or  even  than  the 
French.  The  Americans,  he  says,  are  an  impres 
sionable  people. 

It  is  not  their  intellect,  however  [he  continues] 
that  is  impressionable,  but  their  imagination  and 
emotions,  which  respond  in  unexpected  ways  to 
appeals  made  on  behalf  of  a  cause  which  seems  to 
have  about  it  something  noble  or  pathetic.  They  are 
capable  of  an  ideality  surpassing  that  of  Englishmen 
or  Frenchmen. 

Edmund  Giindel,  a  German  biographer  of  Poe, 
declares  that  the  essential  trait  of  American  litera 
ture  is  its  splendid  idealism.  Louis  P.  Betz, 
another  German  student  of  Poe,  writes  of  the 
interesting  contrast  between  the  outer  and  the 
inner  life  of  the  American  people,  the  outer  life 
characterized  by  a  seeming  materialism,  the  inner 
life  by  the  " Excelsior"  note.  Guglielmo  Ferrero, 
the  Roman  historian,  says: 

I  was  struck  by  one  difference  between  American 
and  European  benefactions.  American  gifts  are  not 


204  America  to  Japan 

infrequently  inspired  by  a  passionate,  and  I  should 
almost  say  ingenuous,  faith  in  man's  ability  to  conquer 
human  misery  and  the  travails  of  life.  An  American 
will  often  set  himself  with  fervor  and  with  great 
expenditure  of  brains  and  money  to  eradicate  evils 
that  to  Europeans  seem  incurable.  The  point  is, 
however,  that  here  again  the  Americans  appeared 
more  idealistic,  more  given  to  dreams,  less  practical 
than  Europeans. 

This  characteristic  of  our  literature  has  been 
best  expressed  by  Eduard  Engel,  who  has  writ 
ten  histories  of  English,  French,  German,  and 
American  literatures : 

The  most  distinctive  note  in  American  literature  is 
its  idealism.  All  great  American  writers,  all  those 
whom  the  Americans  consider  great,  have  been  with 
out  exception  idealists,  almost,  in  fact,  ultra-idealists. 
It  is  no  accident  [he  adds]  that  from  an  American 
poet,  from  Longfellow,  the  world  should  have  re 
ceived  that  exquisite  poem  whose  refrain,  "Excelsior, ' ' 
has  become  the  watchword  of  idealists  in  all  lands. 

That  is  high  praise  but  it  is  just.  Every  history  of 
American  literature  ought  to  contain  at  least  one 
chapter  entitled  "  Idealism  in  American  Litera 
ture.'*  Such  a  chapter  might  show  the  idealism  in 
our  oratory,  our  fiction,  or  our  lyric  poetry.  In 
them  all  there  is  reflected  the  spirit  of  a  people  not 
querulously  discontented  but  not  smugly  satis 
fied,  a  people  proud  of  its  past  but  more  eager  to 
interpret  its  present,  and  to  summon  both  past 
and  present  to  the  service  of  a  wider  future. 


The  Link  of  Literature  205 

in 

These  are  some  of  the  contributions  that 
America  is  making  through  her  literature  to  world 
thought.  But  while  the  literary  currents  flow 
freely  across  the  Atlantic  they  do  not  flow  freely 
across  the  Pacific.  Japan  knows  America  and 
America  knows  Japan  chiefly  in  a  material  and 
statistical  way.  There  is  a  ready  interchange  of 
manufactured  goods  and  such  an  interchange  is 
not  to  be  underrated.  The  danger  is  that  it  will 
be  overrated.  In  my  vision  of  world  unity,  mar 
ginal  percentages  are  not  excluded,  but  they  are 
only  the  ground  floor  of  the  vast  building.  The 
superstructure,  with  its  far  views  outward  and  its 
wider  views  upward,  is  built  of  common  faiths, 
common  admirations,  common  humanity. 

As  co-builder  of  this  temple  the  colleges  and 
universities  of  America  need  to  feel  the  comrade 
ship  and  cooperation  of  Japan.  We  believe  that 
your  responsiveness  to  what  is  artistic  and  progres 
sive,  your  subtle  appreciation  of  the  fitness  of 
form  to  content,  your  quick  understanding  of 
national  ideals,  your  constant  garnering  of  the 
past  for  the  storehouses  of  the  future,  your  con 
sciousness  of  a  mission,  your  position  as  spokesmen 
for  the  East  and  as  interpreters  for  the  West  to  the 
East  would  make  your  advent  into  American 
literature  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  inter 
nationalism. 


CHRISTIAN    INTERNATIONALISM 


BY   REV.    CHARLES   S.   MACFARLAND,   D.D. 

General  Secretary,  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in 
America 


A  BOND  of  international  friendship,  founded 
upon  the  deepest  of  interests  and  the  highest  of 
mutual  ideals,  has  been  rapidly  established  be 
tween  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  Japan  and  the 
Churches  of  Christ  in  America. 

In  Japan's  Message  to  America,  Rev.  Tasuku 
Harada  calls  attention  to  the  problems  of  the 
Christian  Church  in  Japan.  One  of  these  was  the 
need  of  unification.  Therefore,  it  is  gratifying  for 
me  to  bear  witness,  on  behalf  of  the  federation  of 
American  churches  including  thirty  denominations 
and  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand  churches  that 
the  spirit  of  Christian  unity  in  America  is  partly 
a  reflex  action,  for  cooperation  among  the  mission 
churches  in  Japan  has  in  large  measure  stimulated 
unanimity  among  our  churches  at  home.  Dr.  Har 
ada  also  suggested  that  the  American  Churches 
should  send  messengers  to  encourage  Japanese 
Christianity.  We  have  responded  to  this  request 
in  the  sending  of  Dr.  Shailer  Mathews  and  Rev. 

206 


Christian  Internationalism         207 

Sidney  L.  Gulick  as  official  messengers  from  the 
Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in 
America.  He  also  urged  the  promotion  of  inter 
national  peace,  and  he  will  therefore  be  gratified 
at  the  election  of  a  missionary  from  Japan  as 
associate  secretary  of  the  "Commission  on  Peace 
and  Arbitration"  appointed  by  the  Federal 
Council,  as  well  as  by  the  appointment  of  a  special 
commission  of  the  churches  "On  Relations  with 
Japan." 

As  Dr.  Harada  intimates,  the  sending  of  mission 
aries  to  propagate  a  form  of  religion  is  not  enough, 
and  in  this  appeal  he  has  been  supported  by  the 
missionaries  themselves,  who  recently  memori 
alized  the  Federal  Council  to  cultivate  the 
historical  friendship  existing  between  the  two 
nations.  The  response  of  the  American  Churches 
was  immediate,  and  a  propaganda  from  one  end  of 
the  nation  to  the  other  has  had  marked  effect 
upon  our  national  thought  and  consciousness. 

The  Japan  Evangelist  characterizes  the  sending 
of  the  Federal  Council  messengers  to  Japan  as  of 
historic  significance  because  "this  is  the  first 
time  that  official  representatives  of  the  federated 
churches  of  a  great  nation  have  come,  not  as 
patrons  or  as  teachers,  but  as  brothers  in  the  bonds 
of  Christ."  Indeed,  this  is  the  first  event  of  the 
kind  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

Our  nation  has  a  problem  little  shared  by  other 
nations;  that  of  the  amalgamation  of  many 
divergent  peoples  with  its  attendant  economic 


208  America  to  Japan 

difficulties,  while  at  the  same  time  we  must  frankly 
admit  that  it  is  still  more  hampered  by  the  want 
of  international  and  inter-racial  sympathy  and 
understanding.  However,  although  it  may  yet  be 
dim,  the  Christian  Church  of  America  is  giving 
expression  to  a  new  sense  of  internationalism. 

One  of  the  great  beauties  of  nature  is  her 
mingling  of  unlike  things,  each  serving  the  other's 
needs.  This  universal  order,  since  the  stars  sang 
their  morning  song  together,  has  been  the  blend 
ing  of  a  multitude  of  things  which,  in  our  hu 
man  knowledge  of  them,  we  have  set  apart. 
Nature  consists  thus  of  diversity  in  unity.  Her 
divided  and  subdivided  kingdoms  exist  only  in 
the  thought  of  man.  She  is  not  like  our  human 
life,  marked  off  into  its  political  states  with  their 
boundaries  and  barriers.  Her  various  systems 
pervade  and  penetrate  each  other.  They  live 
upon  and  by  one  another.  In  our  human  order 
also,  when  we  live  its  freest  life,  we  do  not  gather 
ourselves  together  so  much  upon  the  basis  of 
similarity  as  of  unlikeness.  The  family  is  the  high 
est  type  of  our  mutual  life  and  it  is  a  bringing 
together  of  the  unlike  and  the  opposite. 

When,  however,  we  pass  out  from  this  natural 
social  order  of  God  into  the  realm  of  our  artificial 
human  associations,  we  find  that  this  great  law 
is  all  too  often  perverted  and  repressed.  In  God's 
order  it  is  the  unity  of  unlikeness.  Man's  dis 
position  is  to  bring  together  by  similarities.  The 
one  completes  the  defect  by  some  compensation 


Christian  Internationalism         209 

and  gives  a  real  and  final  unity.  The  other  takes 
one  small  portion,  multiplies  it  by  itself,  and  issues 
in  a  system  of  inharmonious  exaggerations,  so 
that  to  him  that  hath  much  more  is  given,  and 
from  him  that  hath  not  is  taken  away  even  that 
which  he  hath.  Thus  we  have  largely  ordered  the 
world,  not  in  complementary  groups,  but  by  a 
cold  analysis  into  races,  nations,  and  classes.  The 
result  is  that  life  has  fallen  largely  into  the  order 
of  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  The  great  commotion 
in  the  world  order  of  our  day  and  generation  is  the 
effort  to  change  this  current  which,  in  national  life, 
takes  the  form  of  a  self-deceptive  patriotism,  into 
the  splendid  order  of  brotherhood. 

It  is  clear  to  men  of  vision  that  the  old  inter 
national  order  is  absolutely  broken  down,  and 
that  a  new  order  must  take  its  place,  either  by  the 
transforming  power  of  a  great  spiritual  vision  or 
else  must  rise  from  out  the  ashes  of  the  old.  A  true 
patriotism  will  begin  to  transform  the  world  when 
one  nation  makes  her  own  people  see  that  to  love 
one  people  truly  is  to  love  all  peoples,  and  that  the 
loss  of  a  nation's  honor  is  infinitely  worse  than  the 
loss  of  land,  and  that  her  service  to  other  nations 
is  the  measure  of  her  greatness. 

And  now,  when  international  faith  has  broken 
down  and  the  darkness  is  so  dense  that  the  light 
cannot  be  mistaken,  let  the  world  see  in  Japan 
and  America  one  great  light,  in  East  and  West,  of 
a  national  greatness  that  rests  on  the  power  of  our 
ideals,  whose  domination  is  that  of  moral  power, 
14 


210  America  to  Japan 

whose  people  have  equal  rights  and  justice  because 
the  strong  help  the  weak,  whose  patriotism  is  that 
of  duty  and  service  rather  than  of  rights  and 
privilege,  nations  that  will  rather  suffer  wrong 
than  do  a  wrong,  and  all  mankind  will  see  the 
power  of  moral  conquest. 

The  nations  have  all  been  seeking  peace,  or,  at 
least,  their  peoples  wanted  it.  We  have  had  our 
conferences  at  The  Hague,  and  none  should  be 
little  them.  And  yet,  how  pitifully  their  little 
programs  of  mitigation  have  failed !  We  have  had 
our  societies  for  peace  and  arbitration,  and  we 
should  not  despise  their  efforts,  but  they  have 
discovered  that  they  were  trying  to  put  new  wine 
into  old  bottles  and  new  patches  upon  old  gar 
ments.  Their  work  has  not  been  anti- Christ i an ; 
perhaps  it  has  not  been  non-Christian;  but  it  was 
not  essentially  and  effectively  Christian.  The 
peace  of  Jesus  Christ  is  a  very  different  thing 
from  that  of  the  peace  movement.  We  could 
never  imagine  the  Master  urging  the  nations  to  be 
peaceful  because  war  would  waste  their  material 
resources. 

The  real  forces  that  have  been  bringing  the 
nations  together  have  been  those  of  individual  and 
group  relationships.  They  have  not  been  state 
craft  and  diplomacy.  The  State  as  we  now  con 
ceive  it  is  often  a  fiction;  international  law  a 
romance.  The  future  must  deal  with  realities  and 
not  with  diplomatic  fable.  If  when  the  present 
warfare  is  over  the  old  order  of  things  in  inter- 


Christian  Internationalism         211 

national  politics  remains,  the  future  will  be  worse 
than  the  present.  There  must  not  be  left  one 
stone  upon  another.  If  our  present  methods  of 
statecraft  and  diplomacy,  with  their  suspicions, 
enmities,  and  distrust  are  maintained,  for  every 
devil  that  we  cast  out  seven  more  will  come  in  to 
occupy  the  house.  These  world  forces  cannot 
give  the  constructive,  vital  power  for  the  healing 
of  the  world.  Our  nations  must  have  some  power 
that  will  transform  their  feelings,  their  jealousies, 
their  passions,  and  will  open  their  eyes  to  our  poor 
little  racial  distinctions.  They  tell  us  that  our 
idealism  has  broken  down.  Speaking  in  a  world 
sense,  the  world  has  broken  down  because  we 
stifled  our  idealism.  We  have  not  yet  declared 
so  that  men  could  understand  it,  that  God  knows 
nothing  about  races  or  nations,  and  that  the  words 
white,  yellow,  Slav,  Teuton,  and  Anglo-Saxon  are 
not  found  in  the  divine  vocabulary;  for  in  the 
speech  of  the  Infinite  there  cannot  be  "Greek  or 
Jew,  circumcision  or  uncircumcision,  barbarian, 
Scythian,  bondman,  or  free." 

Our  little  children  must  be  taught  to  feel,  and 
to  feel  it  deeply,  that  the  black  man  at  home  and 
the  black  man  in  Africa  belong  to  the  same  race 
and  state  as  themselves;  that  the  yellow  man  and 
the  white  man  are  of  the  same  blood  and  live,  not 
only  in  the  same  house,  but  in  the  same  Father's 
house.  In  their  patriotism  our  children  should 
salute  at  least  two  flags:  the  one  that  designates 
the  land  in  which  they  happened  to  be  born,  and 


212  America  to  Japan 

then  a  new  world-flag  which  shall  signify  every 
race  and  every  nation  and  every  color  of  mankind. 
Our  children  should  be  reminded  at  every  meal  of 
those  from  every  corner  of  the  world  who  help  to 
set  their  table.  An  education  that  draws  a  mere 
tricious  inspiration  from  past  national  deeds  or 
gaudily  appareled  misdeeds,  instead  of  meeting 
present  opportunity  and  duty,  is  an  unhealthy 
and  infected  thing.  In  their  prayers  they  should 
be  taught  to  pray  that  God  shall  preserve  their 
nation  from  other  nations;  while  they  should  also 
be  taught  to  pray  that  other  nations  should  also 
be  preserved  from  theirs. 

Historic  terminology  of  both  Sunday-school  and 
public  school  should  absolutely  wipe  out  in  their 
present  connotation  such  words  as  "  Anglo-Saxon," 
"Slav,""Celt,""Teuton,"  "Latin,"  "Mongolian,'" 
"Caucasian,"  "African."  In  our  public  schools, 
in  the  sense  which  they  now  convey,  we  should 
expunge  the  discriminations  of  "civilized,"  "semi- 
civilized,"  "barbarian,"  and  substitute  a  new 
distinction  which  shall  be  grounded  upon  historic 
perspective  and  the  principle  of  relativity;  likewise 
in  our  Sunday-schools  such  words  as  "heathen" 
and  "pagan."  God  does  not  look  upon  man  as 
belonging  to  either  nations  or  races.  He  means 
that  nations  shall  help  each  other;  that  their 
relationship  shall  be  that  of  the  mutual  exchange 
of  gifts.  Christianity  teaches  no  peace  except  that 
which  is  based  upon  justice.  The  Golden  Rule 
of  Jesus  applies  to  all  the  nations  and  races  of 


Christian  Internationalism         213 

mankind.     True  Christianity  knows  no  East  or 
West,  no  Occident  or  Orient. 

This  is  the  teaching  of  true  Christianity,  and  we 
earnestly  pray  that  in  America  and  in  Japan  may 
be  developed,  not  only  the  international  commerce 
and  the  international  mind  which  our  material 
and  intellectual  concerns  demand,  but  also  what 
Baroness  Von  Suttner  has  called  "the  international 
heart,"  demanded  by  our  moral  and  spiritual 
interests.  This  is  the  meaning  of  the  new  bond  of 
friendship  between  the  Churches  of  Christ  in 
Japan  and  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America,  and 
is  the  promise  of  an  abiding  justice  and  mutual 
esteem  between  these  two  peoples  of  the  East  and 
the  West. 


EYE  TO  EYE 

BY    BENJAMIN  IDE   WHEELER 

President,  University  of  California 

JAPAN  and  the  United  States  must  get  on  to 
gether  in  neighborliness  and  cooperation.  The 
fates  of  geography  and  commerce  make  them 
sharers  of  the  Great  Northern  Ocean.  Down 
through  the  coming  centuries  they  must  live 
more  and  more  in  touch  with  each  other.  They 
must  share  and  be  patient;  seek  to  see  each 
through  the  other's  eyes,  yield  a  little,  abate  each 
a  little  of  the  full  measure  of  theoretic  right. 
They  must  with  deliberate  intent  plan  to  get  on 
together.  They  cannot  afford  to  let  things  drift, 
else  there  will  arise  continual  sources  of  mis 
understanding.  They  inherit  fundamentally  differ 
ent  traditions.  In  them  meet  the  two  poles  of 
the  historic  world-order.  It  is  not  primarily  a 
matter  of  racial  contrast;  it  is  a  contrast  of  social 
and  economic  standards.  Glossing  over  the  fact 
with  thin  veneers  of  smiles  and  nice  words  and 
formal  assurance  is  sheer  folly,  and  folly  fraught 
with  immeasurable  peril  to  both  parties  and  to 
all  the  world.  What  we  need  is  frankness  of 

214 


Eye  to  Eye  215 

speech  and  honesty  of  action.  Diplomacy  is  good 
as  an  occasional  sedative,  but  inadequate  as  a 
food.  We  must  face  the  plain  facts.  We  must  see 
with  open  eyes  and  confess  with  calm  and  right 
eous  judgment  the  difficulties  under  which  we  each 
labor  in  reaching  a  basis  of  common  understanding. 
How  to  understand  each  the  other's  situation  and 
point  of  view, — that  is  the  problem, — a  hard 
problem,  but  there  is  no  other  way,  except  the 
way  of  anger.  And  anger  settles  nothing.  It 
effects  nothing  but  joint  injury. 

Whatever  our  later  misunderstandings  it  is 
most  fortunate  that  our  first  introduction  to  each 
other  was  favorable  and  all  the  early  days  of  our 
intercourse  most  satisfactory.  America  will  not 
soon  forget  how  trustfully  Japan  gave  her  her 
hand  to  be  led  in  at  the  gates  of  Occidental  civiliza 
tion.  Nor  will  Japan  forget  the  sympathy  and 
support  she  received  from  America  in  her  days  of 
greatest  stress.  America  has  always  entertained  a 
feeling  of  real  admiration  for  the  people  of  the 
Island  Kingdom  and  has  regarded  their  progress 
with  something  of  a  godfather's  pride.  Such  a 
tradition  and  such  a  relationship  constitute  for 
either  people  a  definite  national  asset,  and  cannot 
be  lightly  thrown  by  the  board. 

We  appreciate  the  wisdom  of  Japan's  consent 
to  the  practical  exclusion  of  Japanese  laborers 
through  the  device  of  withholding  passports  under 
what  is  known  as  the  "gentleman's  agreement," 
and  we  recognize  the  honorableness  with  which 


216  America  to  Japan 

Japan  has  carried  out  her  part  of  the  contract. 
This  would  seem  to  be  a  fair   example    of   one 
nation's  appreciating  the  difficulties  inherent  in 
the  situation  of  the  other,  i.e.,  of  seeing  things  as 
the  other  sees  them.    We  ask  for  a  continuation  of 
that  attitude  of  sympathy.    The  Japanese  people 
surely  understand  that  it  is  not  on  merely  arbi 
trary  grounds  that  we  insist  on  the  necessity  of 
denying  admission  to  their  laborers.     If  for  any 
reason  the  "gentleman's  agreement"  should  be 
abrogated,  we  should  find  it  extremely  difficult  to 
agree  upon  a  treaty  which  would  accomplish  the 
purpose.    Japan  is  one  of  the  Great  Powers  of  the 
world,  her  people  represent  one  of  the  highest 
types  of  the  world's  civilization.     They  are  not 
unnaturally  jealous  of  their  position  and  sensitive 
regarding  any  apparent  infringement  of  their  claim. 
They   would   not   welcome  American   legislation 
discriminating  against  them  and  they  certainly 
would  not  agree  to  a  treaty  which  by  their  very 
acceptance  of  it  would  constitute  or  seem  to  con 
stitute  a  documentary  confession  on  their  part  of 
oddity,    if   not   of  inferiority.      We   know   these 
things  are  facts,  and  these  facts  make  up  the  chief 
difficulty  of  our  position,— a  difficulty  for  which 
we  have  as  yet  found  no  solution,   a  difficulty 
regarding  which  we  earnestly  solicit  the  sympathy 
of  the  Japanese  people.     The  main  reason  why 
none  of  the  measures  looking  toward  exclusion 
have  been  adopted  by  recent  Congresses  is  to  be 
found  in  the  unwillingness  of  our  Government  to 


Eye  to  Eye  217 

offer  what  might  be  interpreted  as  an  affront  to  the 
Japanese  people. 

We  are  hoping,  however,  that  with  the  passage  of 
time  the  Japanese  people  may  come  to  recognize 
that  our  exclusion  policy  is  by  no  means  directed 
against  them  as  a  people,  nor  against  any  people, 
but  concerns  a  world-area  wherein  economic 
conditions  through  age-long  training  and  compact 
ing  have  come  to  be  essentially  different  from  those 
prevailing  in  the  sparse-settled  lands  of  the 
frontiersmen.  There  could  be  no  more  convincing 
proof  of  this  than  that  British  Columbia  and 
Australia,  constituent  parts  of  an  Empire  with 
which  Japan  is  allied,  agree  entirely  with  Califor 
nia,  Oregon,  and  Washington  as  to  the  absolute 
necessity  of  exclusion  and  have  adopted  more  dras 
tic  measures  thereto,  than  have  the  United  States. 

As  regards  California  and  other  Pacific  States, 
I  beg  one  item  of  tolerance.  These  States  are  not 
made  up  of  perverse,  rude  people,  slaves  of  labor 
unions  who  have  arbitrarily  conceived  a  malicious 
pleasure  in  misrepresenting  and  opposing  people 
from  the  other  side  the  sea.  They  are  rather  to  be 
thought  of  as  being  the  Americans  who  have  had 
practical  experience  with  the  problems  involved  in 
the  contact  of  East  and  West  and  have  arrived  at 
the  most  sensible  view  regarding  these  problems; 
and  it  will  be  safe  and  reasonable  to  estimate  that 
other  Americans,  as  fast  as  they  come  to  a  full 
understanding  of  the  situation,  will  take  the  same 
view. 


2i8  America  to  Japan 

So  much  for  my  prayer  that  the  Japanese  may 
regard  with  sympathetic  eye  our  difficulties;  now 
I  have  to  admit  that  in  one  chief  point  the  Japa 
nese  have  good  reason  to  ask  a  return  of  the 
favor.  I  can  see  that  in  spite  of  all  good  will  the 
Japanese  Government  finds  it  increasingly  difficult 
to  explain  to  its  people  our  apparent  discrimination 
against  them.  It  appears  as  if  we  ranked  them 
among  the  secondary  people.  It  is  not  our  inten 
tion,  but  if  we  look  at  the  matter  from  the  eyes  of 
the  Japanese,  I  think  we  cannot  fail  to  see  how  the 
national  pride  is  affected  and  how  we  are  in 
evitably  convicted  in  their  minds  of  unfairness. 
They  are  a  strong,  proud  people,  naturally  con 
scious  of  their  achievement,  rightfully  ambitious 
of  full  recognition  as  a  civilized  nation.  We  shall 
have  to  listen  to  their  desire  and  give  it  full  weight. 
It  is  no  specific  thing  that  they  ask, — but  only 
equal  treatment  among  the  nations.  In  this 
connection  there  commends  itself  to  our  attention 
the  proposal  of  Dr.  Gulick  (The  American  Japanese 
Problerri),  which  admits  from  any  land,  Asiatic  or 
European,  a  certain  fixed  percentage  of  those  from 
the  same  land  who  are  already  naturalized  Ameri 
can  citizens.  This  proposal  has  the  double  merit 
of  avoiding  a  sudden  change  in  the  proportions  of 
immigrants  from  different  countries  and  of  treating 
all  on  a  common  basis.  I  am  surprised  to  see  how 
little  attention  has  thus  far  been  devoted  to  this 
remarkable  suggestion.  More  will  surely  be 
heard  of  it  in  the  days  to  come.  In  close  conjunc- 


Eye  to  Eye  219 

tion  therewith  will  be  considered  the  problems  of 
naturalization  now  forcing  themselves  to  atten 
tion,  but  whatever  we  consider  and  whatever  ws 
do,  we  must  go  to  our  work  with  the  plain  under 
standing  that  in  one  way  or  other  we  must  get  on 
together.  For  we  are  neighbors. 


WHAT  AMERICA   EXPECTS   OF  JAPAN 

BY   JEREMIAH  W.    JENKS,    PH.D.,    LL.D. 

Director  of  the  Division  of  Public  Affairs,  New  York  University, 
and  of  The  Far  Eastern  Bureau. 

"  When  three  people  are  of  one  mind,  the  yellow  soil  is  changed 
into  gold." — The  Book  of  Changes. 

AMERICA  expects  much  of  Japan,  for  Japan's 
welfare,  for  the  welfare  of  the  world.  America 
expects  nothing  of  Japan,  selfishly,  nothing  that 
could  be  at  all  construed  as  being  in  any  way 
inconsistent  with  the  loftiest  ideals  or  aspirations 
cherished  by  the  Japanese  people. 

In  the  final  analysis,  the  history  of  a  nation  is 
written  by  that  nation.  Nations  live  or  die,  wax 
great  or  disintegrate,  very  much  in  accordance 
with  the  principles  governing  the  lives  of  in 
dividuals.  If  they  conserve  honor  for  its  own  sake, 
husband  their  health,  and  comport  themselves 
with  justice  and  generosity  towards  others,  they 
command  and  compel  the  friendship  and  the 
comradeship  of  their  fellow-men;  they  disarm 
suspicion,  enmity. 

The  history  of  Japan  is  that  of  a  brave  and  noble 
people.  Japan  was  great  long  before  her  part  in 

220 


What  America  Expects  of  Japan  221 

the  world  was  known  to  the  nations  of  the  West. 
Self-contained,  self -confined,  she  conserved  her 
strength  and  developed  arts  which  have  amazed 
and  delighted  the  peoples  of  the  West.  She  has 
amazed  and  delighted  them  still  more  by  the 
rapidity,  the  earnestness,  the  tact  with  which  she 
has,  voluntarily,  absorbed  Western  ideas  and 
knowledge  and  adopted  Western  ways  of  organized 
development.  Nowhere  in  the  world  is  respect 
and  admiration  for  Japanese  achievement  more 
solidly,  more  surely  established  than  in  the  United 
States. 

We  are  a  people  of  high  ideals.  We  have  a 
sublime  belief  in  the  nobility  of  our  destiny. 
Within  a  mere  hand's-breadth  of  time  we  have 
done  much.  Thus,  also,  is  it  with  the  Japanese 
people.  So  here  we  stand  upon  a  common  plane, 
both  proud  of  our  great  accomplishments  and 
sanguine  as  to  our  future. 

We  have  interests,  both  sentimental  and  mate 
rial,  in  common.  In  China,  Japan  and  the  United 
States  have  both  sentimental  and  material  inter 
ests.  These  interests  do  not  conflict.  Quite  the 
contrary;  the  interests  of  Japan  and  the  United 
States  in  China  can  and  should  coincide. 

Between  six  and  seven  years  ago  a  wise  Japanese 
statesman,  who  was  at  that  time  Japan's  ambassa 
dor  at  Washington,  Baron  Takahira,  and  America's 
most  distinguished  and  most  experienced  living 
statesman,  who  was  at  that  time  Secretary  of 
State,  Mr.  Elihu  Root,  defined  in  the  most  precise 


222  America  to  Japan 

language  the  unanimity  of  Japanese-American 
interests  in  China.  The  joint  note  signed  at 
Washington,  November  30,  1908,  set  forth: 

1.  It  is  the  wish  of  the  two  governments  to  en 
courage  the  free  and  peaceful  development  of  their 
commerce  on  the  Pacific  Ocean ; 

2.  The  policy  of  both  governments,  uninfluenced 
by  any  aggressive  tendencies,  is  directed  to  the  main 
tenance  of  the  existing  status  quo  in  the  region  above 
mentioned  and  to  the  defense  of  the  principle  of  equal 
opportunity  for  commerce  and  industry  in  China; 

3.  They  are  accordingly  firmly  resolved  recipro 
cally  to  respect  the  territorial  possessions  belonging  to 
each  other  in  said  region; 

4.  They    are    also    determined    to    preserve    the 
common  interests  of  all  powers  in  China,  by  support 
ing,  by  all  pacific  means  at  their  disposal,  the  inde 
pendence  and  integrity  of  China  and   the  principle 
of  equal  opportunity  for  commerce  and  industry  of 
all  nations  in  that  Empire; 

5.  Should  any  event  occur  threatening  the  status 
quo  as  above  described  or  the  principle  of  equal  oppor 
tunity  as  above  defined,  it  remains  for  the  two  govern 
ments  to  communicate  with  each  other,  in  order  to 
arrive  at  an  understanding  as  to  what  measures  they 
may  consider  it  useful  to  take. 

There  is  nothing  ambiguous  about  the  terms  of 
this  note.  There  has  been  no  ambiguity  in  the 
policy  of  the  United  States  supporting  this  agree 
ment  with  Japan  to  protect  the  "Open  Door" 
and  the  sovereignty  of  China.  America  has  no 


What  America  Expects  of  Japan  223 

ambition  to  secure  territory  in  China  or  political 
dominion  over  China,  however  veiled.  Her  one 
desire  is  to  keep  the  faith  with  China,  to  be  true 
to  her  own  obligations,  and  in  so  far  as  she  can,  to 
help  China  to  sustain  herself  during  the  period  of 
transition  through  which  China  is  now  passing. 
This,  too,  I  am  glad  to  say,  is  the  view  which 
obtains  among  the  wisest  and  best  minds  of 
Japan.  Mr.  Tokugoro  Nakahashi,  in  his  article 
"Japan  and  the  Preservation  of  China's  Integ 
rity,"  which  forms  a  very  important  contribution 
to  Japan's  Message  to  America,  says  truly: 

When  China  had  passed  through  the  recent  revolu 
tions  the  majority  of  the  intelligent  Japanese  began 
to  understand  her  better.  They  set  to  work  to  make  a 
careful  study  of  the  country  and  the  people,  and  to 
learn  the  true  attitude  of  the  European  and  the 
American  nations  toward  her;  and  it  was  brought 
home  to  the  Japanese  generally  that  Japan's  best 
interests  will  be  safeguarded  by  maintaining  the 
integrity  of,  and  by  observing  the  "Open  Door" 
policy  in  China. 

Japan's  best  interests  will  be  safeguarded  by  the 
maintenance  of  the  integrity  of  China  and  by 
observing  the  "Open  Door"  policy  in  China;  and 
the  American  people  are  not  merely  willing,  but 
they  are  anxious  to  see  Japan  play  the  important, 
signally  useful  part  which  it  is  possible  for  her  to 
play  as  the  friend  of  China  in  her  own  interests  and 
in  the  general  interest  of  peace  in  the  Pacific. 


224  America  to  Japan 

That  statesmanship  which  acts  for  the  moment 
merely  is  shortsighted  and  doomed  to  fail.  So, 
while  selfishness  might  suggest  that  China's 
temporary  difficulty  is  Japan's  opportunity,  such 
suggestion  is  misleading  and  mischievous,  and  if 
it  were  acted  upon,  could  not  but  lead  to  future 
difficulty  and,  indeed,  danger  to  Japan.  The 
Japanese,  more  than  any  other  nation,  are  able  to 
appreciate  the  intensity  and  the  immensity  of  the 
changes  now  coming  over  China.  There  is  every 
reason  to  expect  that  during  the  next  ten  or  fifteen 
years  China  will  progress  not  less  rapidly  than  has 
Japan  during  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years.  If  that 
be  admitted,  as  I  think  it  must  be,  then  surely  it 
must  be  obvious  that  Chinese  friendship  is  essen 
tial  to  the  advantage,  if  not  indeed  to  the  safety 
of  Japan.  It  will  pay  Japan  to  be  just  to  China; 
because  if  she  is  just  to  China  it  is  inevitable,  from 
her  geographical  situation,  alone,  apart  from  the 
commercial  and  political  genius  of  her  sons,  that 
her  already  considerable  trade  with  China  will 
be  increased  tenfold,  and  that  her  political  in 
fluence  with  the  new  China  will  inure  to  her 
advantage  as  well  as  to  the  advantage  of  China. 

America  expects  Japan  to  be  just  to  China. 
And  this  expectation  is  founded  upon  a  genuinely 
friendly  interest  in  Japan's  future  as  well  as  upon 
the  belief  that  a  strong,  united  China  and  a  strong, 
united  Japan  will  guarantee  the  preservation  of 
the  peace  upon  the  Asiatic  side  of  the  Pacific. 

A  considerable  part  of  the  Chinese  people  seem 


What  America  Expects  of  Japan  225 

to  fear  that  Japan's  present  activities  in  southern 
Manchuria  and  in  Shantung  forecast  the  possi 
bility  that  Japan  may  attempt  to  repeat  in  China 
proper  her  absorption  and  annexation  of  Korea. 
Of  course,  such  fears  are  groundless  if  for  no  other 
reason  than  because  China  is  not  Korea,  and  the 
Chinese  people  are  not  the  Korean  people.  Japan 
can  remove  those  fears,  and  she  should  remove 
them  by  taking  the  most  definite  possible  stand  in 
practical  application  of  her  covenant  with  the 
United  States  to  protect  the  sovereignty  of  China. 
And  preservation  or  protection  of  the  sovereignty 
of  China  is  incompatible  with  the  extension  or 
development  of  "spheres  of  influence"  which, 
more  than  anything  else,  has  aroused  the  resent 
ment,  the  enmity  of  the  Chinese  people. 

Mr.  Yosaburo  Takekoshi,  M.P.,  discussing 
Japan's  Colonial  Policy,  says: 

Now  Korea  has  room  for  10,000,000  immigrants, 
and  Formosa  for  2,000,000.  So  we  have  to-day  both 
colonies  and  colonists,  like  England.  We  do  not  need, 
any  more  colonies  than  we  already  have.  Anyone 
who  attempts  to  acquire  more  would  act  contrary  to 
the  sound  imperial  policy,  and  for  his  own  private 
adventure.  Japan's  imperial  policy  to-day  calls  for 
the  development  of  Korea  and  of  Manchuria,  as  well 
as  that  of  Formosa,  and  Japan's  colonial  policy  should 
not  be  otherwise  than  to  fulfill  her  responsibility 
toward  these  lands. 

I  heartily  concur  in  this  view,  keeping  in  mind, 
of  course,  the  fact  that  the  plans  for  the  develop- 
15 


226  America  to  Japan 

ment  of  Manchuria  must  necessarily  differ  widely 
from  those  for  Korea  and  Formosa.  Manchuria 
cannot  be  looked  upon  as  a  "colony"  of  Japan, 
though  it  is  properly  a  rich  field  for  Japanese  de 
velopment.  China  will  surely  one  day  be  strong; 
and  Japan's  best  guarantee  that  her  interests  on 
the  Asian  mainland  will  not  at  some  future  time  be 
menaced  is  the  friendship  and  respect  of  the  Chi 
nese  people.  If,  instead  of  seeking  extension  of 
territory  in  any  part  of  China's  domain,  Japan 
braces  herself  more  and  more  seriously  to  the  task 
of  developing  her  political  and  economic  strength 
within  this  territory  which  she  has  already  won  by 
great  sacrifices,  she  will  on  the  one  hand  convince 
China  of  the  earnestness  and  the  reality  of  her 
friendship,  while  on  the  other  hand  she  is  solidify 
ing  her  colonial  and  internal  prestige  and  power; 
and — a  very  important  consideration — economiz 
ing  her  administrative  machinery,  lightening  her 
present  heavy  tax  burden,  assisting  the  people  of 
Japan  into  a  more  favorable  financial  situation 
from  which  to  extend  Japan's  trade  throughout 
Asia. 

Japan's  commercial  interest  in  China  is  not  at 
all  restricted  to  China  herself.  The  development 
of  railways  in  China  within  the  next  decade  and 
more  is  going  to  revolutionize  the  commerce  of 
Asia.  Japan  is  in  a  peculiarly  strong  position  to 
participate  in  the  profits  from  that  development, 
and  Americans  will  not  grudge  her  legitimate 
profits  from  legitimate  enterprise.  But  even 


What  America  Expects  of  Japan  227 

American  friendship,  however  strained  through  a 
desire  to  accommodate  Japan,  could  not  guarantee 
a  realization  of  this  development  of  Japanese 
trade  in  Asia  against  the  will  of  the  Chinese  people. 
And  I  think  it  but  right  to  say  in  all  seriousness 
that  the  American  people  would  not  be  disposed 
to  regard  lightly  their  obligations  to  China  to 
oblige  either  Japan  or  any  other  nation.  America 
expects  the  Japanese  people  to  justify  their  tradi 
tions  and  their  aspirations  by  continuing  to  inspire 
modern  progress  in  China,  not  through  aggression, 
but  by  example  within  their  own  borders  and  by 
such  cooperation  as  China  herself  may  desire  and 
require. 

China  needs  the  friendship  of  both  Japan  and  the 
United  States.  All  three  nations  have  very  large 
interests  in  the  changes  which  are  taking  place  as 
a  consequence  of  the  passing  of  the  Manchu 
empire  and  the  advent  of  the  Chinese  republic. 
The  Chinese,  of  course,  are  entitled  to  a  prior 
interest  in  their  own  patrimony;  the  Japanese  can 
justly  claim  the  interest  inseparable  from  geo 
graphical  contiguity  and  similarities  in  racial, 
historical,  ethical,  and  social  development;  the 
American  interest,  while  partly  commercial,  is 
largely  that  of  the  mutual  friend  desiring  a  fair 
field  and  no  favors  for  her  traders,  while  playing  a 
worth-while  r61e  in  helping  the  progress  of  mankind. 
It  seems  to  me  the  part  of  wisdom  that  Japan 
should  more  and  more  approach  Chinese  problems 
from  the  viewpoint  of  the  Chinese  themselves, 


228  America  to  Japan 

which  will,  I  trust,  always  be  the  American  view 
point.  Thus  Japan,  America,  and  China  will  be  of 
one  mind,  and  mutual  advantage  must  follow. 
Truly  does  the  wise  man  say  in  The  Book  of 
Changes: 

When  three  people  are  of  one  mind,  the  yellow  soil 
is  changed  into  gold. 


RECOLLECTIONS 

BY    WILLIAM    ELLIOTT    GRIFFIS 

Formerly  of  the  Imperial  University,  Tokyo. 

IT  is  forty-four  years  since  (having  arrived  in 
your  country  on  December  29,  1870)  I  rode  into 
the  city  of  Fukui,  Echizen.  I  came  to  Japan  to 
organize  public  schools  on  American  methods,  to 
train  teachers,  and  to  teach  chemistry  and  physics 
to  the  lads  of  the  province.  In  Fukui  such  great 
men  as  Matsudaira  Shungaku,  Yokoi  Heishiro, 
Hashimoto  Sanai,  Yuri  Kinmasa,  Okakura  Kakuzo 
and  others  equally  famous  lived. 

It  was  very  lonely  at  first,  for  I  saw  none  of  my 
countrymen  for  over  a  year,  but  all  the  people, 
from  the  daimio  down,  were  very  kind  to  me.  I 
came  to  Tokyo,  in  February,  1871,  invited  by  the 
first  Minister  of  Education,  Oki  Takato,  to  begin 
what  was  then  a  new  thing  in  Japan — a  Shem  Mon 
Gakko.  In  these  days,  when  my  long-time  friend, 
Teishima  Seiichi,  is  president  of  the  Higher 
Technical  School  in  Tokyo,  my  first  suggestions  of 
such  a  school  may  be  properly  forgotten. 

After  reaching  the  national  capital  I  saw  often 
229 


23°  America  to  Japan 

in  his  carriage,  and  twice  in  the  palace,  your  great 
Emperor,  the  Meiji  Tenno,  who  was  then  a  young 
man,  only  nineteen  years  old,  while  the  great 
Empress  Haruko  was  in  her  bloom  of  youth  and 
beauty.  Both  were  very  kind  to  us  foreigners  then 
in  Tokyo.  After  being  in  Tokyo  a  year,  my  sister, 
Miss  Margaret  Clark  Griffis,  came  to  Japan.  Under 
the  Minister  of  Education,  Tanaka  Fujimaro, 
she  was  appointed  to  conduct  a  school  in  Tokyo 
within  the  castle,  near  Hitotsu  Bashi  Go  Mon. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  the  national  female 
education  in  Japan.  Out  of  this  school  grew  the 
Peeresses'  School  and  the  Tokyo  Woman's  Nor 
mal  School.  Scores  of  the  daughters  of  the  nobles 
and  gentry,  of  Imperial  Princes,  of  Cabinet 
Ministers,  and  of  Samurai  attended  this  school. 
Often  the  girl  pupils  of  the  school  would  come 
to  our  house,  in  the  foreign  compound,  and 
play. 

So  you  see  my  sister  and  I  have  always  cherished 
a  warm  friendship  for  the  people  of  Japan  and 
often  have  Japanese  visit  our  home  when  they  are 
in  America.  In  Fukui,  the  three  little  daughters 
of  Doctor  Kasahara,  then  aged  eleven,  seven,  and 
four,  used  to  come,  on  Sunday  mornings,  to  see  me 
and  learn  about  things  in  America,  while  I  learned 
about  home  life  in  Japan. 

How  I  wish  that  both  peoples,  American  and 
Japanese,  especially  the  best  in  both  lands,  knew 
more  about  each  other.  It  is  because  the  people 
live  on  different  sides  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  are 


Recollections  231 

separated  by  language  and  often  by  unintelli 
gent  prejudices,  that  they  so  often  misunder 
stand  each  other.  This  is  the  reason  why 
ignorant  people,  many  of  them  bad  men  in  both 
America  and  Japan,  tell  so  many  falsehoods 
about  both  Japanese  and  Americans,  and  thus 
stir  up  irritation  and  hatred  where  only  friend 
ship  should  reign. 

Let  me  give  one  illustration,  showing  how  easy 
it  is  to  make  mistakes,  some  of  them  amusing, 
and  others  dangerous.  When,  in  1871,  I  wrote 
home  from  Fukui  to  my  little  four-year-old 
nephew  about  the  bob- tailed  cats  of  Japan,  and 
sent  him  a  soroban  as  a  curiosity,  what  did  he  do? 
How  did  the  little  fellow  understand  the  cat  or 
soroban? 

I  will  tell  you.  He  tied  a  string  to  the  soroban, 
and,  turning  it  face  downward,  played  with  it  as 
with  a  wagon,  thinking  only  of  the  " wheels"  and 
what  he  could  load  on  the  flat  top  of  it.  Then  he 
took  a  carving  knife  from  the  table  and  was  going 
out  into  the  kitchen.  His  mother,  wondering 
what  he  would  do,  asked  him.  "  I  want  a  Japanese 
bob- tailed  cat,"  he  said.  Innocently,  he  was  going 
to  amputate  the  tail  of  one  of  our  long-tailed  cats 
so  as  to  have  one  like  those  his  uncle  saw  in  Japan ! 
Now,  in  1915,  he  is  a  father  with  children,  and  he 
and  they  know  better. 

So  let  all  the  children  of  Japan  and  the  United 
States  learn  about  each  other  from  good  men  and 
women.  Then  will  there  always  be  peace,  friend- 


232  America  to  Japan 

ship,  and  mutual  benefit  to  the  two  great  nations 
on  either  side  of  the  Pacific. 

Long  live  the  Emperor  and  Empress!  Ever 
lasting  be  the  prosperity  of  The  Land  of  Peaceful 
Shores  I 


PANAMA-PACIFIC  INTERNATIONAL 
EXPOSITION 

BY  CHARLES  C.    MOORE 

President 

As  the  years  have  passed  both  the  United  States 
and  Japan  have  given  evidence  of  their  sincerity 
in  the  professions  of  amity  recorded  in  their  first 
treaty.  We  rendered  Japan  invaluable  aid  in  her 
successful  struggle  against  humiliating  consular 
conditions.  Again,  Japan  has  sent  hundreds  of 
her  most  promising  youths  to  be  educated  in  our 
colleges  and  universities.  Time  and  again  she 
has  sent  commissions  of  her  wisest  men  to  study 
our  industrial  organizations,  and,  most  impressive 
of  all  her  evidences  of  friendship,  she  celebrated 
the  landing  of  Commodore  Perry  and  erected  a 
monument  to  his  memory. 

Out  of  a  traditionally  kindly  feeling  has  grown 
a  vital  force,  ever  working  for  mutual  benefit  and 
ever  increasing  in  power.  Something  more  than 
flour  and  oil  and  machinery  have  gone  from  our 
shores  to  the  Island  Empire;  something  more  than 
silk  and  tea  have  come  to  us  from  Nippon.  Ideas 
have  passed  to  and  fro  with  the  shuttle-like 

233 


234  America  to  Japan 

movements  of  richly  laden  ships.  Out  of  the 
mouths  of  students  and  from  the  pens  of  sym 
pathetic  writers  have  come  knowledge  of  Japan's 
natural  beauties,  her  triumphs  over  unkind  con 
ditions,  and  the  virtues  and  talents  of  her  people. 
Interest  thus  aroused  has  encouraged  inquiry  and 
study,  and  to-day  we  realize  something  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  achievements  of  our  neighbor 
across  the  Western  sea.  Sixty  years  is  but  a  day 
in  the  life  of  an  ancient  nation  like  Japan,  which 
boasts  of  a  ruling  dynasty  with  an  unbroken  suc 
cession  for  twenty-five  centuries;  yet  in  the  brief 
time  that  is  represented  by  three  generations  of 
men,  Japan  has  moved  steadily  onward  with 
tremendous  strides,  has  accomplished  govern 
mental  changes  that  in  Europe  took  centuries  to 
perfect,  and,  by  a  national  effort  unparalleled  in 
the  world's  history,  has  attained  the  goal  of  a 
marvelous  modern  civilization. 

From  such  reflections  one  naturally  turns  to  the 
Panama-Pacific  International  Exposition,  which 
not  only  commemorates  the  opening  of  the  Panama 
Canal  and  the  entry  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  into  its 
own  as  a  great  factor  in  the  commerce  of  the  world, 
but  marks  a  memorable  point  in  the  development 
of  the  happy  relations  that  have  so  long  existed 
between  Japan  and  the  United  States.  I  need 
scarcely  recall  that  Japan  was  among  the  first  of 
the  nations  to  realize  that  the  completion  of  a  man- 
made  waterway  connecting  earth's  two  greatest 
oceans  called  for  an  international  celebration. 


Panama-Pacific  Exposition        235 

She  was  the  first  great  power  to  accept  the  invita 
tion  to  participate  in  our  Exposition.  She  was  the 
first  of  the  great  nations  to  select  a  site,  her  dedica 
tion  ceremony  having  been  held  as  long  ago  as 
September,  1912.  Furthermore,  at  that  early 
date  she  deemed  that  dedication  of  sufficient 
importance  to  send  here  a  large  party  of  distin 
guished  men  to  witness  the  passing  of  the  deed 
to  her  plot  of  ground  from  my  hand  to  that  of 
her  official  representative,  Commissioner-General 
Yamawaki. 

My  relations,  and  those  of  my  fellow  directors  of 
the  Exposition,  with  Commissioner  Yamawaki  have 
been  particularly  happy  and  will  always  be  one 
of  our  brightest  recollections  when  we  recall  the 
Panama-Pacific  International  Exposition.  We 
feel  and  take  gratification  in  the  thought  and  belief 
that  the  cordiality  which  has  thus  far  existed  is 
but  an  earnest  of  what  is  to  come.  This  Exposi 
tion  should  and  will  mean  closer  relationship 
between  Japan  and  the  United  States.  Acquaint 
ance  leads  to  understanding  and  understanding 
to  friendship.  With  a  varied  and  comprehensive 
exhibit,  such  as  is  now  installed,  of  the  achieve 
ments  of  the  Japanese  people  in  the  arts,  the 
sciences,  and  the  industries,  with  the  sympathies 
that  must  come  with  evidences  of  cooperation  and 
the  realization  that  we  and  they  have  been  working 
whole-heartedly  for  the  one  great  purpose  of  mak 
ing  this  Exposition  worthy  of  the  attention  of  the 
world,  countless  Americans  who  now  have  but 


236  America  to  Japan 

vague  ideas  of  the  Land  of  the  Rising  Sun  will  gain 
a  clear  knowledge  of  its  people,  their  country,  and 
their  work. 

I  know  there  is  no  antagonism  toward  the 
Japanese  people  among  the  great  body  of  the 
American  people.  Our  people  should  not  have 
any  such  antipathy.  The  Japanese  are  essentially 
likable.  They  are  always  courteous,  chivalrous, 
and  industrious.  No  land  has  finer  gentlemen  or 
more  indefatigable  workers.  The  reverence  of  the 
Japanese  for  their  parents  and  their  consideration 
for  those  dependent  upon  them  are  world  famed. 
Their  fine  traits  are  many,  and  it  is  only  necessary 
that  one  become  familiar  with  them  to  establish 
the  deep  mutual  respect  between  the  individuals 
that  has  existed  these  many  years  between  the 
nations  to  which  they  proudly  give  allegiance. 

Great  credit  is  due  Japan  and  should  unstintedly 
be  given  her  for  the  share  she  is  taking  in  our 
Exposition.  At  a  time  when  her  resources  are 
being  put  to  an  unusual  tax  she  has  gone  ahead 
with  her  painstaking  and  costly  preparations  for 
an  exhibit  worthy  of  her  greatness.  Scrupulously 
she  has  kept  her  word,  sparing  neither  time  nor 
money  to  make  good  her  every  obligation.  In 
money  her  contribution  is  measured  by  the  con 
siderable  outlay  of  .$600,000  for  her  main  exhibit 
and  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars  for  a  unique 
concession  in  the  "Zone."  And  that  is  not  all. 
Japan  has  even  dug  up  a  three-acre  garden — the 
Emperor's  own,  by  the  way — put  it  on  shipboard, 


Panama-Pacific  Exposition        237 

brought  it  thousands  of  miles  across  the  sea,  and  set 
it  down  beside  the  beautiful  temple  in  the  Exposi 
tion  grounds.  Never  has  such  a  garden  been  seen 
outside  far  Nippon,  and  every  American  who  sees 
it  and  has  in  his  heart  a  love  for  the  beautiful  will 
be  thankful  for  its  coming. 

Another  thought  comes  to  me  as  I  recount  what 
Japan  is  doing  for  the  Exposition,  that  it  is  espe 
cially  fitting  while  a  deplorable  world-struggle,  the 
most  tragic  in  all  history,  is  in  progress,  the  two 
great  nations  whose  shores  are  washed  by  the  broad 
Pacific  should  be  at  peace  with  one  another.  As 
they  have  always  been,  so  should  they  always 
remain. 

Undoubtedly  the  day  will  come  when  the  world 
will  recognize  that  all  nations  are  members  of  one 
great  family.  With  the  dawn  of  that  great  day 
the  world  will  know  that  all  the  nations  are  inter 
dependent;  that  if  one  suffers  all  must  suffer. 
Seemingly  this  idea  is  too  altruistic,  too  far-fetched 
to  become  practical,  but  that  the  assumption  is 
based  firmly  on  truth  is  proved  in  the  administra 
tion  of  the  smaller  affairs  of  life,  in  the  admin 
istration  of  commercial  concerns,  and  in  the 
organization  of  governments.  The  analogy  must 
run  on.  What  is  true  of  the  family,  of  business, 
and  of  government  must  be  true  of  the  world. 

And  now  a  few  more  words  about  the  Exposition. 
Despite  the  war  it  promises  to  meet  every  high 
hope  that  has  been  cherished  for  it  and  to  mark  a 
milestone  in  the  progress  of  civilization.  Many 


America  to  Japan 

European  nations,  even  those  now  engaged  in 
conflict,  are  participating,  and  this  we  take  not 
only  as  a  tribute  to  the  United  States,  which  built 
the  Panama  Canal  and  opened  it  to  all  the  world 
on  equal  terms,  but  as  recognition  of  the  fact  that 
even  in  times  of  war  the  arts  of  peace  should  be 
cultivated.  Here  there  is  neither  East  nor  West. 
Here  the  people  of  the  world  will  gather.  Here  will 
be  set  forth  the  best  of  their  products.  Here  they 
will  show  not  only  the  cunning  of  their  hands  but 
the  kindness  of  their  hearts.  Here  they  who  now 
stand  aloof  from  one  another  may  learn  to  under 
stand  and  appreciate,  for  here  will  be  a  world  in 
itself,  harmonious  and  cooperating  for  the  good 
and  advancement  of  all. 

And  now  in  conclusion,  speaking  in  behalf  of  the 
administration  and  directors  of  the  Exposition, 
I  wish  to  extend  to  the  Japanese  people  a  most 
cordial  invitation  to  visit  our  city  and  see  what 
has  been  done  to  make  memorable  the  celebration 
of  the  completion  of  the  Panama  Canal. 


AMERICAN  APPRECIATION  OF  JAPANESE 

ART 

BY  HOWARD  MANSFIELD1 

No  careful  observer  can  have  failed  to  note  that 
Japanese  art  has  been  very  much  in  evidence 
among  us  in  recent  years,  and  while  not  equally 
conspicuous  in  all  its  phases,  has  made  a  powerful 
appeal  to  art  lovers  throughout  the  country.  It 
is  not  so  generally  known,  however,  how  long  and 
in  how  many  specific  instances  this  appeal  has 
been  effective,  nor  to  what  an  extent  its  force  has 
been  felt.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  influence  of 

1  Mr.  Mansfield  is  a  lawyer  in  active  practice  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  where  he  is  a  trustee  and  the  treasurer  of  the  Metro 
politan  Museum  of  Art.  His  collecting  in  the  field  of  Oriental 
art  dates  from  1890.  Up  to  that  time  he  had  been,  as  he  still  is, 
a  collector  of  modern  original  etchings,  especially  the  etchings  and 
dry-points  of  Whistler,  of  which  he  has  compiled  a  Descriptive 
Catalogue,  published  by  the  Caxton  Club  of  Chicago.  From 
the  beginning,  his  interest  in  the  art  of  Japan  has  been  marked 
by  keen  insight  and  discriminating  taste.  His  collection  of 
paintings,  prints,  pottery,  lacquer,  and  sword  fittings  has  been 
made  with  scrupulous  care  that  it  should  permanently  include 
only  examples  that  in  quality  conform  to  the  highest  standard. 
He  is  widely  known  as  a  connoisseur  and  has  done  much  to 
stimulate  interest  in  Japan  and  spread  an  appreciation  of  its  art. 

239 


240  America  to  Japan 

Japanese  art  among  us  began,  although  in  a  very 
limited  way,  not  long  after  commercial  intercourse 
with  Japan  was  opened.  As  early  as  1869,  James 
Jackson  Jarves,  himself  an  artist  and  keen  appre- 
ciator  and  ardent  collector  of  works  of  European 
art,  drew  attention  in  an  article  embodied  in  his 
Art  Thoughts,  to  the  work  of  Hokusai,  beyond 
which  his  knowledge  of  Japanese  art  seems  scarcely 
to  have  extended,  paying  high  tribute  to  the  genius 
of  that  master.  Early  in  the  'sixties,  William  T. 
Walters,  while  in  Paris,  where  appreciation  of 
Japanese  art  blossomed  early,  came  to  know  and 
value  the  lacquers  and  metal  works  of  Japan,  and 
to  begin  the  formation  of  a  collection  notable  from 
the  beginning.  Supplemented  from  rare  examples 
exhibited  in  the  Japanese  section  of  the  Centennial 
Exhibition  of  1876,  and  from  other  sources,  this 
remains  a  splendid  tribute  to  his  discriminating 
judgment,  treasured  in  the  city  of  Baltimore  in  the 
possession  of  Henry  Walters,  his  son,  the  inheritor 
as  well  of  his  artistic  tastes.  Likewise  appreciative 
of  the  beauty  of  similar  works  was  Quincy  A.  Shaw, 
whose  collection  of  lacquers,  housed  in  the  com 
panionship  of  famous  paintings  of  the  Barbizon 
School,  in  his  home  at  Jamaica  Plain,  Boston,  came 
to  be  spoken  of  always  in  connection  with  the 
Walters  Collection.  Other  private  collectors  early 
began  to  make  known  here  and  there  among  us  the 
marvels  of  Japanese  taste  and  workmanship  in 
these  particular  forms,  and  in  the  form  of  wood  and 
ivory  carvings  readily  attractive  to  the  general  eye. 


Appreciation  of  Japanese  Art     241 

But  it  was  not  until  some  time  in  the  'eighties 
that  there  were  brought  to  this  country,  by  Pro 
fessor  Ernest  F.  Fenollosa,  Dr.  Charles  G.  Weld, 
and  Dr.  William  Sturges  Bigelow,  after  sojourning 
some  years  in  Japan,  not  only  a  bewildering  variety 
of  lacquers  and  metal  works  and  rare  brocades, 
but  a  vast  accumulation  of  paintings  and  color- 
prints  that  were  a  revelation  of  forms  of  art  until 
then  virtually  unknown  to  the  Western  world.  Al 
most  at  the  same  time,  Professor  Edward  S.  Morse, 
who  had  served  two  terms  as  professor  of  science  in 
the  Imperial  University  at  Tokyo,  brought  home 
his  marvelous  collection  of  Japanese  potteries, 
which  were  a  demonstration  of  how  art  had  im 
pressed  itself  upon  everything  which  entered  into 
the  daily  life  of  the  Japanese  people.  It  may  well 
have  been  that  the  acquisition  of  these  potteries 
grew  out  of  the  exhaustive  study  which  Professor 
Morse,  as  a  scientist,  made  of  the  manner  of  hous 
ing  Japanese  people,  and  which  resulted  in  his 
unique  contribution  to  the  literature  of  that  sub 
ject  in  his  well-known  work  on  Japanese  Homes. 
Crowning  his  work  of  collecting  and  classifying 
the  potteries  stands  his  monumental  catalogue, 
published  by  the  Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts, 
of  which  the  Morse  Collection  has  long  been  a 
world-famous  possession.  Into  the  same  custody 
and  ownership  have  passed  also  the  Fenollosa, 
Weld,  and  Bigelow  collections*  supplemented  by 
liberal  and  judicious  contributions  from  the  col 
lection  of  Dr.  Denman  Ross,  so  that,  admirably 

16 


242  America  to  Japan 

installed  in  that  Museum,  these  groupings  of 
Oriental  art  have  for  years  made  such  a  showing 
as  has  been  possible  nowhere  else  in  the  world 
outside  of  Japan. 

Not  far  away,  at  Salem,  in  the  Peabody  Museum, 
there  have  been  arranged,  under  the  official  direc 
tion  of  Professor  Morse,  collections  giving  in  an 
equally  remarkable  degree  an  ethnological  history 
of  the  Japanese  people  from  the  earliest  time  down 
to  the  revolution  of  1868,  illustrating  their  religions, 
folk-lore,  arts,  industries,  costumes,  manners,  pur 
suits,  and  amusements. 

As  has  been  intimated,  the  display  of  Japanese 
art  at  the  Centennial  Exhibition  of  1876  was  so 
notable  as  to  attract  not  only  the  appreciative 
attention  of  those  who  were  already  to  some  extent 
familiar  with  Oriental  art,  but  to  open  to  a  knowl 
edge  of  its  beauty  the  eyes  of  many  to  whom 
Oriental  art  had  previously  meant  chiefly,  if  not 
quite  exclusively,  Chinese  porcelains.  The  deep 
impression  made  upon  all  visitors  by  this  exhibit 
was  soon  found  to  have  awakened  a  widespread 
interest  in  the  various  forms  of  art  displayed, 
which  did  not,  however,  as  the  fact  is  now  recalled, 
make  any  real  disclosure  of  the  art  of  which  Japan 
ese  paintings  and  color-prints  are  so  remarkable 
an  expression.  To  the  influence  of  the  Japanese 
exhibits  at  the  Centennial  Exhibition  may  fairly 
be  attributed  a  growing  recognition  of  the  need 
of  an  increasing  inclusion  of  Japanese  works  of 
art  in  our  public  museums.  So  notable  a  showing 


Appreciation  of  Japanese  Art     243 

as  that  made  by  the  Boston  Museum  of  Fine 
Arts  could  not  but  confirm  and  stimulate  this 
conviction. 

Thus  it  has  come  about  that,  largely  through 
gifts,  important  collections  of  Japanese  color- 
prints  are  also  to  be  found  within  the  walls  of  the 
Library  of  Congress  in  Washington,  the  New  York 
Public  Library  and  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of 
Art,  the  Worcester  Art  Museum,  the  Art  Institute 
of  Chicago,  the  Drexel  Institute  of  Art,  Science, 
and  Industry  in  Philadelphia,  the  Carnegie  Insti 
tute  in  Pittsburg,  the  Fogg  Art  Museum  at 
Harvard  University  in  Cambridge,  the  Forbes 
Library  in  Northampton,  and  the  Princeton  Uni 
versity  Museum  of  Historic  Art  in  Princeton; 
while  in  a  number  of  these  institutions  and  in  the 
Institute  of  Arts  and  Sciences  in  Brooklyn,  the 
Allbright  Art  Gallery  in  Buffalo,  the  John  Herron 
Art  Institute  in  Indianapolis,  the  Walker  Art 
Building  at  Bowdoin  College  in  Brunswick,  the 
Detroit  Museum,  the  Newark  Museum,  and  the 
newly  established  Institute  of  the  Arts  in  Minne 
apolis,  other  Japanese  works  are  found  in  con 
siderable  variety,  fulfilling  a  useful  public  mission. 

Although  the  French  have  been  quick  to  appre 
ciate  other  forms  of  Japanese  art,  they  seem  not 
to  have  so  readily  recognized  the  value  of  the 
paintings  which  the  Japanese  esteem  as  the  high 
est  form  of  artistic  expression.  While  the  collec 
tion  of  paintings  gathered  in  Japan  by  Dr.  William 
Anderson,  which  long  ago  found  a  home  in  the 


244  America  to  Japan 

British  Museum,  and  the  extensive  collection 
formed  by  Arthur  Morrison,  and  which  has  re 
cently  become  also  a  possession  of  that  Museum 
through  the  gift  of  Sir  Gwynne-Evans,  Bart., 
together  comprehensively  represent  the  range  of 
that  branch  of  art,  yet  they  must  yield  in  import 
ance  to  the  collection  in  the  Boston  Museum  and 
the  Freer  Collection,  and  are  fairly  matched  in 
quality  by  a  number  of  comparatively  small 
private  collections  in  this  country. 

As  already  illustrated,  the  fundamental  fact 
stands  out,  that  to  the  zeal  of  individual  art  lovers 
and  private  collectors  the  world  owes  the  bringing 
together  of  art  objects  of  distinction  which  become 
notable  groups  and  frequently  form  the  basis  and 
chief  glory  of  the  collections  that  enrich  and  dis 
tinguish  our  art  galleries  and  museums.  It  was 
as  early,  at  least,  as  the  'eighties  when  such  art 
lovers  in  New  York  as  Samuel  Colman,  Henry  0. 
Havemeyer,  Brayton  Ives,  Edward  C.  Moore, 
Francis  Lathrop,  and  Charles  Stewart  Smith 
became  keen  collectors  of  Japanese  works  of  art. 
With  the  insight  of  an  artist,  Mr.  Colman  readily 
appreciated  the  beauty  of  such  of  the  earlier 
paintings  as  were  available  here  and  the  striking 
value  of  the  prints  as  examples  of  rare  qualities 
of  composition,  line,  and  color,  and  the  varied  forms 
and  glazes  of  the  potteries.  Proof  of  his  dis 
criminating  taste  may  be  found  in  the  group  of 
potteries  that  constitutes  his  gift  to  the  Metropoli 
tan  Museum  of  Art.  With  broader  sweep,  Mr. 


Appreciation  of  Japanese  Art     245 

Havemeyer,  delighting  in  every  aspect  of  Oriental 
art,  added  to  his  choice  collection  of  paintings 
and  color-prints  many  marvelous  potteries  of 
the  highest  art  quality,  noble  bronzes,  splendid 
lacquers,  exquisite  metal  works,  and  beautiful 
carvings.  The  Ives  Collection  of  Japanese  swords 
may  be  seen  in  almost  its  entirety  in  the  Metropoli 
tan  Museum,  the  gift  of  himself  and  his  friends, 
while  his  equally  remarkable  collection  of  lacquers 
and  metal  works  was  long  ago  dispersed  to  enrich 
the  private  collections  of  others.  The  Moore 
Collection,  comprising  bronzes,  the  smaller  metal 
works,  lacquers,  potteries,  and  brocades,  with  rare 
examples  of  the  arts  of  China  and  Persia,  has  long 
held  a  conspicuous  place  among  the  treasures  of 
that  Museum.  By  reason  of  benefactions  in  Mr. 
Lathrop's  will,  the  same  Museum  has  recently  be 
come  the  possessor  of  a  group  of  admirable  prints 
selected  from  the  large  collection  which,  as  an 
artist,  he  took  keen  pleasure  in  bringing  together. 
The  comprehensive  collection  of  ceramics  acquired 
by  Mr.  Smith  in  Japan  was  soon  given  to  the 
Museum  —  a  benefaction  which  has  since  been 
supplemented  by  the  gift  from  his  family  of  his  col 
lection  of  Japanese  paintings,  works  chiefly  of  the 
Ukiyoe  School,  and  specially  drawings  by  Hoku- 
sai,  while  his  extensive  collection  of  color-prints 
passed  by  gift  in  his  lifetime  to  the  New  York 
Public  Library.  Later,  Samuel  Isham,  artist  and 
historian  of  art,  found  deep  satisfaction  in  collect 
ing  and  studying  a  wide  range  of  Japanese  color- 


246  America  to  Japan 

prints.  A  comprehensive  collection  from  those  he 
brought  together,  bestowed  by  his  estate,  in  com 
pliance  with  his  wishes,  constitutes  in  the  Metro 
politan  Museum  an  appropriately  designated  part 
of  what  may  now  be  regarded  as  a  fairly  adequate 
representation  of  works  of  that  character.  In  the 
enticing  fields  of  lacquers,  metal  works,  and  ivory 
carvings,  there  have  followed  these  collectors  at 
no  long  distance  Malcolm  MacMartin  and  Dr.  I. 
Wyman  Drummond,  whose  acquisitions  form  an 
extraordinary  demonstration  of  the  high  standard 
of  Japanese  art  maintained  down  to  our  own  times. 
It  was  in  the  'eighties  also  that  admirable  ex 
amples  of  Japanese  works  of  art,  coming  directly 
from  Japan,  reached  Chicago,  where  they  found  a 
keen  appreciator  in  Frederick  W.  Gookin,  whose 
collection  of  Japanese  paintings  and  prints  was 
among  the  earliest  private  collections  of  the  kind 
in  this  country,  and  whose  interest  and  infor 
mation  and  judgment  in  the  field  of  the  color- 
prints  have  made  him  an  authority  recognized 
everywhere.  Taking  further  root  in  the  same 
congenial  soil,  the  attractiveness  of  the  color- 
prints — too  little  appreciated,  it  must  be  observed, 
in  the  home  of  their  origin — led  also  to  the  forma 
tion  of  such  notable  collections  of  rare  quality  as 
those  of  Charles  J.  Morse  and  Charles  H.  Chand 
ler,  of  Evanston,  and  that  of  Clarence  Buckingham 
of  Chicago,  and  the  recently  dispersed  collections 
of  Frank  Lloyd  Wright  and  Dr.  J.  Clarence  Web 
ster  of  that  city.  Not  far  away,  Arthur  Davison 


Appreciation  of  Japanese  Art      247 

Ficke,  with  a  poet's  appreciation  and  a  collector's 
zeal,  has  brought  together  a  distinguished  grouping 
of  Japanese  color-prints  in  Davenport,  Iowa,  and 
in  the  neighboring  city  of  Moline,  Illinois,  excel 
lent  collections  of  prints  have  been  formed  by  Miss 
Mary  A.  Ainsworth  and  Mr.  Judson  G.  Metzgar. 
A  rarely  beautiful  collection  of  the  prints,  rich 
in  "primitives,"  is  that  which  was  formed  with 
discriminating  taste  by  John  Chandler  Bancroft, 
and  now,  through  his  bequest,  enriches  the  Worces 
ter  Art  Museum.  In  successful  emulation  of  all 
these  collectors,  William  S.  Spaulding  and  John  T. 
Spaulding,  of  Boston,  have  within  recent  years 
assembled  Japanese  color-prints  of  such  rare 
quality  and  comprehensive  range  as  to  give  their 
collection  a  unique  distinction  among  similar 
collections  wherever  found. 

The  influence  of  Japanese  art  —  especially  of 
its  decorative  art  and  its  art  of  gardening — became 
years  ago  very  positively  felt  in  the  city  of  Minne 
apolis  through  the  zeal  and  efforts  of  John  Scott 
Bradstreet,  whose  many  visits  to  Japan  imbued 
in  him  a  rare  knowledge  and  sincere  love  of  the 
Japanese  people  and  a  deep  appreciation  of  their 
art,  and  whose  final  wishes  have  found  embodiment 
in  a  memorial  room — adorned  with  Japanese  works 
of  his  collecting — in  the  new  Institute  of  Arts  in 
that  city. 

Early  in  the  'nineties,  Charles  L.  Freer  of  De 
troit  joined  the  American  collectors  of  Japanese 
works  of  art,  acquiring  especially  paintings  and 


248  America  to  Japan 

potteries  of  distinguished  merit,  forming  in  them 
selves  a  magnificent  collection.  These,  with  Chi 
nese  paintings  and  potteries  and  the  potteries 
of  Persia  and  Mesopotamia,  have  grown  into  a 
most  remarkable  accumulation  of  objects  of  Ori 
ental  art,  which,  by  the  munificence  of  the  col 
lector,  has  passed  into  national  ownership  through 
gift  to  the  Smithsonian  Institution  in  Washington, 
although  still  retained  in  his  possession  pending  the 
erection  of  a  special  building  for  these  and  other 
works  of  art  included  in  the  gift. 

Growing  intercourse  with  Japan  has  naturally 
brought  many  works  of  art  from  that  country  to  the 
Pacific  Coast,  where  they  are  held  in  high  esteem 
by  many  amateurs.  In  San  Francisco  interest  in 
Japanese  art  has  been  much  stimulated  by  Miss 
Katherine  M.  Ball,  who  has  for  some  years  been 
an  eager  and  appreciative  collector  of  color-prints 
and  who,  as  superintendent  of  drawing  in  the 
public  schools,  has  achieved  notable  success  by 
drilling  the  pupils  in  methods  of  design  based  upon 
the  principles  that  underlie  Oriental  work. 

If  we  may  cross  the  border  into  Canada,  we 
shall  find  at  Montreal  the  famous  collection  of 
Japanese  potteries  so  discriminatingly  formed  by 
Sir  William  Van  Home,  whose  knowledge  of  the 
whole  range  of  Japanese  ceramic  art  is  as  remark 
able  as  the  collection  by  which  it  is  so  admirably 
illustrated,  while,  in  Toronto,  Sir  Edmund  Walker 
has  in  recent  years  become  an  ardent  collector 
of  Japanese  color-prints. 


Appreciation  of  Japanese  Art     249 

By  no  means  exhausted  is  the  record  thus  sum 
marily  made  of  the  private  collections  in  America 
of  works  of  art  that  have  come  to  us  from 
Japan.  Such  collections  exist,  however,  over 
the  entire  breadth  of  the  land,  and  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  they  have  made  Japan  known 
to  Americans  to  a  greater  extent  and  more  im 
pressively  and  convincingly  than  all  that  could 
have  been  written  or  said  of  that  country  without 
their  aid. 

The  educational  work  in  the  realm  of  Japanese 
art  publicly  begun  with  such  happy  results  at 
Philadelphia  in  1876,  was  carried  conspicuously 
further  in  the  art  exhibits  of  Japan  in  the  World's 
Fair  at  Chicago — notable  among  these  being  the 
reproduction  of  the  famous  Ho-o-den,  decorated 
with  paintings  reminiscent  of  many  schools  of 
native  art,  which  still  remains  a  permanent  gift 
to  the  city. 

At  the  St.  Louis  Exposition  of  1904,  the  modern 
artists  of  Japan  not  only  afforded  opportunities  of 
acquisition  that  were  eagerly  availed  of  by  art 
lovers,  but  made  convincing  demonstration  of  the 
fact  that,  although  diverse  currents  of  Oriental  and 
Occidental  influence  are  noticeably  affecting  art 
in  Japan,  yet  the  old  national  spirit  is  still  vital 
and  strong,  encouraging  the  hope  of  continued 
predominance. 

Finally,  at  the  Panama  Pacific  Exposition  at 
San  Francisco,  Japan  is  making  convincing  proof 
of  what  art  means  to  her  people  and  can  do  for  a 


250  America  to  Japan 

nation  without  loss  of  national  dignity,  power,  or 
efficiency — a  demonstration  that  cannot  but  per 
manently  impress  all  who  are  capable  of  true  dis 
cernment  and  right  appreciation. 


EXPERIENCES    OF    A    JAPANESE    IN 
AMERICA 

BY  T.   IYENAGA,    PH.D. 

Professorial  Lecturer  in  Political  Science  at  the  University  of 
Chicago 

WHEN  the  editor  of  America  to  Japan  re 
quested  me  to  contribute  an  article  to  the  book, 
I  doubted  the  propriety  on  my  part  to  do  so,  foi 
the  obvious  reason  that  I  am  a  member  of  the 
nation  to  which  this  message  is  addressed,  and 
hence  my  participation  in  it  might  seem  a  little 
incongruous.  But  the  unique  experiences  and 
opportunities  I  have  had  in  the  past  to  know  most 
intimately  both  peoples,  and  my  most  sincere  so 
licitude  to  see  them  in  mutual  understanding  and 
happy  relation,  have  emboldened  me  to  attempt 
this  essay.  This  appeal,  therefore,  forms  an  ex 
ception  in  this  book — it  is  an  appeal  to  both 
Americans  and  Japanese. 

NOTE. — Dr.  T.  lyenaga  was  graduated  from  Oberlin  College  in 
1884,  and  in  1890  obtained  the  degree  of  Ph.D.  from  Johns  Hop 
kins  University.  After  serving  several  years  in  official  positions  in 
Japan,  he  returned  to  America  in  1900  where  he  has  since  resided. 
His  experience  as  a  member  of  the  faculty  of  the  University  of 
Chicago,  as  a  public  lecturer  and  writer,  qualifies  him  as  an 
authority  on  the  subject  of  this  essay. — Editor. 

251 


252  America  to  Japan 

My  experience  in  America  begins  with  my  col 
lege  days.  Three  years  at  Oberlin  and  another 
three  years  at  Johns  Hopkins  University  brought 
me  into  intimate  contact  with  American  student 
life.  During  those  days  I  joined  in  the  manifold 
activities  of  my  fellow-students — their  literary 
society,  their  fraternity,  their  oratorical  contest, 
and  their  various  sports.  While  I  served  the 
University  of  Chicago  for  twelve  years,  I  not  only 
lectured  before  the  University  audience  and  other 
seats  of  learning,  but  traveled  extensively  through 
out  the  country,  especially  in  the  Middle  West, 
where  I  visited  practically  every  important  town. 
In  this  way  I  came  into  close  relation  with  various 
types  of  American  people.  I  have  found  friends 
among  the  high  and  the  low,  the  most  cultured  and 
the  ignorant,  and  have  been  privileged  to  know 
almost  every  stratum  of  American  society.  And 
let  me  add  that  the  more  I  know  of  the  American 
people  the  more  I  become  impressed  with  their 
good  nature  and  their  sense  of  fairness  and  justice. 
Between  such  a  people  and  my  countrymen  who, 
too,  are  inspired  with  a  strong  sense  of  honor  and 
justice,  I  can  see  no  reason  why  there  should  be  a 
lack  of  understanding.  There  are,  however,  cer 
tain  obstacles  that  stand  in  the  way.  Let  me 
state  them. 

In  the  relations  between  America  and  Japan 
there  will,  from  time  to  time,  doubtless  arise 
difficult  problems  affecting  the  interests  of  the  two 
countries,  seemingly  conflicting  one  with  another 


A  Japanese  in  America  253 

and,  therefore,  inviting  the  closest  attention  of  the 
respective  governments.  This  is  but  natural  as 
it  may  be  in  the  relations  with  other  Powers.  But 
these  problems  will  mostly  be  of  a  temporary 
nature,  and  capable  of  speedy  and  friendly  solution 
so  long  as  the  American  and  Japanese  govern 
ments  are  amicably  disposed.  There  are  other 
difficulties  that  are  not  so  easy  to  overcome.  They 
come  from  differences  in  race,  language,  religion, 
temperament,  customs,  and  manners  of  the  two 
peoples. 

The  first  and  greatest  is  of  course  race  distinction 
which  cannot  be  obliterated  within  two  or  three 
centuries,  if  ever.  Formidable  as  this  barrier  may 
seem,  it  is  not  insurmountable,  for  after  all  what 
really  debars  mutual  understanding  between  differ 
ent  races  is  not  the  fact  of  racial  distinction  but  the 
prejudice  that  springs  from  it.  Race  prejudice 
is  born  of  ignorance  and  is  not  the  monopoly  of 
this  or  that  people.  To  the  Greeks  and  Romans 
outsiders  were  "barbarians,"  to  the  Hebrews, 
"gentiles,"  to  the  Japanese,  "red-bearded  bar 
barians,"  to  the  Chinese,  "white  devils,"  and  to 
the  peoples  of  Christendom  Asiatics  were  "yellow 
pagans."  I  am  firmly  convinced  that  race 
prejudice  is  a  factor  of  diminishing  importance 
in  proportion  to  the  rise  of  intelligence.  Race 
prejudice  manifests  itself  most  glaringly  among  the 
uncultured  and  the  ignorant,  while  it  recedes  to  the 
vanishing  point  between  an  American  professor 
and  a  Japanese  Scientist.  Race  prejudice,  further, 


254  America  to  Japan 

receives  its  sustenance  from  other  elements  of  the 
difference  that  exists  between  races.  If  my  per 
sonal  experiences  are  of  any  value,  they  seem  to 
demonstrate  sufficiently  the  soundness  of  my 
thesis.  I  have  ceased  for  a  long  time  to  be  an 
noyed  by  any  manifestation  of  race  prejudice 
toward  me  among  Americans,  high  or  low,  old  or 
young.  This  is  due,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  to  the 
fact  that  I  have  overcome  in  a  measure  all  other 
differences  that  separate  us  and  come  to  think, 
feel,  and  do  as  Americans  do.  It  is,  however, 
well  to  remember  on  the  part  of  my  countrymen 
that  Americans  are  particularly,  and  quite  natu 
rally  too,  sensitive  to  a  race  question,  because  it 
has  given  them  the  bitterest  experience  in  their 
history,  and  still  remains  the  hardest  of  their 
unsolved  problems.  This  is  said  not  as  a  justifica 
tion  of  race  prejudice  but  to  make  it  clear  that  we 
are  not  devoid  of  appreciation  of  the  American 
attitude  toward  the  race  question. 

No  less  significant  than  race  distinction  are, 
then,  the  differences  in  language,  religion,  tempera 
ment,  customs,  and  manners  that  constitute  a  gulf 
between  Americans  and  Japanese.  These  differ 
ences  belong  to  a  category  which  it  is  within 
human  endeavor  to  obliterate  or  concerning  which 
one  may  arrive  at  a  just  appreciation  of  the  other's 
viewpoint.  This,  however,  is  in  nowise  easy. 
For  the  Japanese  to  master  the  English  language  is 
indeed  difficult,  and  still  harder  is  it  for  Americans 
to  learn  the  Japanese  tongue.  Without  a  knowl- 


A  Japanese  in  America          255 

edge  of  one  or  the  other  of  these  precious  media 
of  thought,  it  is  apparent  one  can  hardly  feel  kin 
to  the  other.  Our  Anglo-American  friends  will 
doubtless  rejoice  to  hear  that  in  Japan  English  is 
the  first  foreign  language,  the  knowledge  of  which 
is  made  compulsory  upon  all  students  from  the 
academies  to  the  universities,  while  German  and 
French  are  elective.  Future  generations  of  Japan 
will,  therefore,  find  among  themselves  an  ever- 
increasing  number  of  those  who  not  only  under 
stand  the  English  language  but  are  capable  of 
interpreting  to  their  compatriots  the  spirit  of 
Anglo-American  civilization.  There  are  again 
not  a  few  Americans,  missionaries  and  linguists, 
who  are  industrious  enough  to  study  the  Japanese 
language.  These  efforts  made  on  both  sides, 
coupled  with  the  possibility,  though  remote  it  be, 
of  writing  Japanese  in  roman  letters,  thus  bringing 
it  in  line  with  Western  literature,  will  tend  toward 
bridging  the  gulf  that  stands  between  Americans 
and  Japanese  because  of  the  difference  in  language. 
It  goes  without  saying  that  the  Japanese  residing 
here  are  trying  their  best  to  master  the  language  of 
the  country  wherein  their  lot  is  cast. 

The  difference  in  religion,  temperament,  habits, 
and  manners  of  the  Japanese  and  Americans  often 
acts  as  a  strong  deterrent  against  their  harmonious 
intercourse.  In  religious  belief  the  Japanese  have 
proved  themselves  throughout  their  history  a 
remarkably  tolerant  people.  They  are  always 
open  to  conviction.  Then,  again,  the  religious 


256  America  to  Japan 

bigotry  that  has  characterized  the  Occident  for 
many  centuries  is  now  a  thing  of  the  past  and  has 
been  replaced  by  the  spirit  of  tolerance.  This 
tendency  is  specially  marked  in  America.  Differ 
ence  in  religion,  therefore,  will  not  prove  such  a 
strong  factor  in  alienating  sympathy  between 
peoples  of  differing  religions  as  in  bygone  days. 
Not  so  with  other  differences  above  specified. 
So  cocksure  are  we  of  the  propriety  of  the  habits 
we  have  inherited,  it  is  hard  for  us  to  rightly 
judge  the  habits  of  others  which  differ  from  our 
own.  The  customs  which  seem  to  the  one  per 
fectly  natural  and  proper,  and  the  conventionalities 
sanctioned  by  tradition  of  his  own  country,  appear 
to  the  other,  not  accustomed  to  them,  so  strange, 
so  "funny."  Hence  one  rails  against  the  other. 
But  these  customs  and  manners  are,  like  language, 
the  results  of  long  national  and  social  development. 
They  are  products  of  the  genius  of  differing  civiliza 
tions.  They  cannot,  therefore,  be  changed  in  a 
day.  Nor  is  there  any  necessity  for  unifying  them. 
What  is  needed  is  a  catholic  spirit,  a  sweet  reason 
ableness,  to  understand  the  viewpoint  of  others. 

There  are  many  points  of  resemblance  in  the 
characteristics  of  American  and  Japanese,  so  much 
so  that  the  latter  have  been  styled  ' '  Yankees  of  the 
East."  But  there  are  at  the  same  time  many 
points  of  wide  divergence  among  the  two  neighbors. 
The  temperament  of  Americans  is  quick,  impulsive, 
optimistic;  their  manners  straightforward,  even 
blunt;  and  they  are  frank,  direct,  outspoken  in 


A  Japanese  in  America  257 

their  address.  The  Japanese,  on  the  other  hand, 
are  quiet,  reserved,  reticent ;  their  manners  polite ; 
and  they  are  roundabout,  diplomatic  in  their 
speech.  It  is,  then,  quite  natural  that  they  should 
become  victims  of  many  misunderstandings.  To 
cite  a  single  instance.  To  the  frank  and  out 
spoken  Americans,  what  they  consider  "secretive- 
ness"  in  the  Japanese  is  very  displeasing,  even 
irritating.  To  the  polite  Japanese,  what  offends 
most  their  esthetic  sense  is  the  blunt  way  in  which 
Americans  address  them.  But  they  ought  not 
feel  too  sensitive  because  they  are  called  "Jap," 
"John, "  and  the  like,  for  some  Americans  are  not 
used  to  any  other  language  than  this — they  even 
speak  of  their  own  President  as  ' '  Teddy  "  or ' '  Bill. " 
The  Americans,  on  the  other  hand,  should  well 
understand  that  what  they  construe  as  "secretive- 
ness"  in  the  Japanese  is  not  a  bad  heart,  or  his  un 
willingness  to  take  them  into  confidence,  but  is  due 
to  his  meager  knowledge  of  English  as  well  as  the 
force  of  habit  imposed  on  him  by  centuries  of 
feudalism,  when  every  word  uttered  had  to  be 
carefully  weighed  and  guarded.  And  the  Japanese 
have  not  yet  wholly  succeeded  in  dropping  their 
insular  habits  and  have  not  adopted  freely  the 
way  of  intercourse  in  vogue  in  the  Occident. 

My  personal  experiences  in  America  have 
taught  me  and  inspire  me  with  firm  confidence 
that  when  the  obstacles  I  have  narrated  are  in 
some  measure  overcome  there  is  nothing  to  prevent 
the  smooth  course  of  American-Japanese  inter- 

17 


258  America  to  Japan 

course  and  their  mutual  understanding.  The 
development  of  weighty  national  interests  of  both 
America  and  Japan  in  the  Pacific  and  its  littorals, 
and  the  future  of  civilization  in  the  Orient,  that 
loudly  call  for  the  harmonious  cooperation  of  the 
two  neighbors,  are  matters  I  need  not  elucidate. 
These  two  Powers  ought  to  and  will  remain  ever 
true  friends. 

My  message  to  my  countrymen,  then,  is  this: 
in  dealing  with  the  American  people,  study  with 
care  their  temperament  and  idiosyncrasies.  Learn 
assiduously  their  language,  ways,  and  modes  of 
thought.  Appreciate  their  great  and  good  parts 
and  they  will  not  fail  to  reciprocate.  Be  frank, 
open-hearted,  and  speak  out  without  reserve  or 
mincing  of  words.  Most  of  all,  do  your  best  to 
make  known  to  them  Japan  and  the  Japanese,  for 
the  vast  majority  of  the  Americans  are  quite 
ignorant  of  your  thoughts,  ideals,  and  conditions. 

In  the  same  strain  I  shall  make  bold  to  say  to 
America  these  words:  cease  once  for  all  to  enter 
tain  the  absurd  notion  that  Japan  is  eternally 
incomprehensible.  Kipling's  much  quoted  verse 

"  East  is  East,  and  West  is  West; 
And  never  the  twain  shall  meet " 

conveys  an  exploded  idea.     His  neglected  verse 

"  But  there  is  neither  East  nor  West, 

Border  nor  Breed  nor  Birth, 
When  two  strong  men  stand  face  to  face, 

Though  they  come  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  " 


A  Japanese  in  America  259 

expresses  truth.  Lend  no  ears  to  whispers  of 
calumny  and  suspicion.  Japan's  desire  for  Amer 
ica's  friendship  is  genuine,  for  therein  lie  her  vital 
interests  and  future  prosperity.  Treat  Japan  as 
America  would  treat  other  great  Powers  and  the 
courtesy  will  be  returned  an  hundredfold. 


THE    ECONOMIC    VALUE    OF    SHORTER 
WORKING  PERIODS 

BY  ABRAM   I.   ELKUS,  D.C.L. 

Chief  Counsel,  New  York  State  Factory    Investigating   Com 
mission;  Regent  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York 

FROM  the  very  beginning  of  the  United  States 
of  America  as  an  independent  nation  until  within 
a  comparatively  few  years,  the  doctrine  of  indi 
vidual  freedom  in  industry  was  recognized  as  a 
cardinal  principle  of  government.  Although  the 
country  was  rapidly  growing  in  manufacture,  it 
was  for  so  many  years  predominantly  agricultural 
that  the  problems  caused  by  modern  industry, 
especially  as  they  relate  to  production  on  a  large 
scale,  had  not  clearly  arisen.  The  efforts  of  the 
people  were  mainly  exerted  in  cultivating  the 
natural  resources  of  the  country,  which  were 
deemed  to  be  inexhaustible,  and  little  encourage 
ment  was  given  to  any  proposal  to  limit  labor,  either 
from  the  humanitarian  or  economic  standpoint, 
because  it  was  assumed  to  be  socially  and  politi 
cally  desirable  that  all  should  work  as  much  or  as 
little  as  they  pleased. 

The  oldest  and  most  apparent  limitation  in  the 
260 


Shorter  Working  Periods         261 

United  States  upon  the  work  period  has  been  the 
practice  of  one  day's  rest  in  each  week.  Originally 
this  had  its  sanction  in  the  religious  conviction 
of  the  major  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  various 
States,  and  long  continued  to  be  enforced  with 
great  strictness  from  a  purely  religious  standpoint. 
With  the  growth  of  population,  the  great  increase 
in  the  number  and  variety  of  industries,  and  the 
demand  for  every-day  convenience,  not  to  say 
luxury,  the  observance  of  any  one  particular  day 
as  a  day  of  rest  could  not  be  maintained,  and 
gradually  fell  into  disuse  in  great  part.  In  time, 
in  many  of  the  States,  and  almost  entirely  in  those 
industries  which  are  operated  continuously,  the 
prevailing  practice  came  to  be  not  only  the  twelve- 
hour  day,  but  the  seven-day  week.  Particularly 
in  the  great  basic  industries,  such  as  mining  and 
steel  making,  and  also  in  the  great  industries 
directly  serving  the  public,  such  as  transportation, 
etc.,  a  day  of  rest  became  practically  unknown. 
There  were  frequent  but  spasmodic  attempts  to 
revive  the  "Sunday"  or  "blue  laws,"  which  still 
remain  on  the  statute  books  of  some  of  the  States, 
but  these  were  futile.  However,  there  has  long 
since  come  a  widespread  recognition  of  other  than 
religious  reasons  for  a  day  of  rest  from  labor,  and  a 
rapidly  growing  movement  for  its  introduction  has 
taken  place,  as  well  as  for  other  limitations  upon 
the  hours  of  labor,  based  entirely  upon  economic 
and  health  reasons.  The  physical  and  social 
necessity  for  sufficient  rest  periods,  making  for  a 


262  America  to  Japan 

shorter  work  day,  has  been  economically  fortified 
by  the  experience  that  the  provision  of  such  rest 
periods  means  better  and  more  work  obtained, 
as  well  as  healthier,  more  contented  citizens. 

The  decrease  in  the  hours  of  work  has  proceeded 
along  two  main  lines: 

1 .  Limitation  of  hours  by  law 

(a)  of  government  employees  and  those 
engaged  in  government  construction. 

(ft)  of  those  engaged  in  hazardous  employ 
ments,  or  in  work  directly  affecting  the 
health  and  safety  of  the  worker  or  of  the 
public. 

2.  Voluntary   limitation   by  employers,  often 
by  agreement  with  employees,  based  upon  the 
recognition    that    reduction    of    hours    means 
increased   efficiency  and  a  lower  cost  of  pro 
duction. 

I.  Limitation  by  law.  The  people  of  America 
have  always  been  in  favor  of  the  best  possible 
working  conditions  for  those  who  are  engaged  in 
the  public  service.  The  Government,  in  many 
respects,  serves  as  a  "model  employer, "  and  this  is 
true  with  regard  to  the  number  of  working  hours. 
Some  believe  that  the  government  standard  is  too 
high.  Seven  hours  a  day  is  now  the  standard  in 
nearly  every  department  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment,  and  similar  provisions  exist  in  many  States 
and  municipalities.  Legislators  have  also  shown 
a  similar  solicitude  for  workers  in  private  employ 
who  are  engaged  upon  government  work.  Con- 


Shorter  Working  Periods         263 

tracts  for  construction  and  supplies  usually  specify 
the  hours  of  labor  and  other  conditions  of  employ 
ment,  an  eight -hour  work  day  being  generally 
accepted  as  the  standard  for  this  purpose.  Upon 
the  whole,  of  course,  the  economic  advantage 
has  here  been  subordinated  rather  than  regarded 
as  the  prime  requisite.  Still,  despite  these  limita 
tions,  it  is  often  possible  to  complete  government 
undertakings  at  such  a  cost,  and  with  such  speed 
and  success,  as  to  compare  favorably  with  that  of 
private  employers  under  no  such  restrictions. 

The  Federal  Congress  and  the  legislatures  of  the 
various  States  have  placed  restrictions  upon  the 
hours  of  work  in  some  of  the  most  important 
industries.  Employees  in  hazardous  and  health- 
injuring  occupations,  such  as  mining  and  smelting, 
have  often  had  their  work  limited  by  law  to  eight 
hours  in  twenty-four.  Similar  provisions  have 
been  made  for  those  who  work  under  great  air- 
pressure,  and  they  have  been  proposed  or  enacted 
into  law  for  workers  subjected  to  great  heat,  such 
as  bakers,  and  those  exposed  to  injurious  fumes, 
as  in  the  manufacture  of  chemicals. 

Another  group  whose  hours  of  labor  have  been 
limited  by  law  comprises  those  employed  at  work 
directly  affecting  the  public  safety,  such  as  railway 
telegraph  operators,  upon  whose  alertness  the  safety 
of  passengers  and  property  depends.  The  reduc 
tion  of  accidents  alone  more  than  justifies  the  added 
cost  in  this  particular,  and  no  one  questions  the 
essential  economic  soundness  of  such  limitations. 


264      ^        America  to  Japan 

By  far  the  greatest  class  of  these  legal  limitations 
on  working  hours  in  private  industry  concerns  the 
great  and  growing  groups  of  women  and  young 
persons  in  industry.  To  limit  the  working  hours 
of  women  and  children  has  become  a  settled 
national  principle.  The  State  now  fully  recog 
nizes  that  its  people  are  its  primary  valuable 
possession,  and  that  nothing  can  be  economically 
sound  that  does  not  conserve  the  health  and  vigor 
of  the  race.  Certain  occupations,  such  as  mining, 
have  been  altogether  closed  to  these  groups,  and 
the  limitation  of  the  hours  of  their  employment 
has  proceeded  much  further  than  in  the  case  of 
men.  Within  a  score  of  years,  beginning  with  a 
legal  limit  of  ten  hours  per  day,  the  daily  employ 
ment  of  women  and  children  in  the  leading  indus 
trial  sections  has  been  reduced  to  nine  and  eight 
hours.  In  addition,  night  work  has  been  either 
prohibited  or  greatly  abridged.  Notwithstanding 
all  these  limitations,  women  have  continued  to 
augment  our  industrial  army,  and  the  demand  for 
their  services  has  been  constantly  increasing. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  legal  restrictions  upon 
employment  have  been  made  in  almost  every 
instance  in  those  States  which  are  industrially  most 
advanced,  and  that  during  this  period  of  progres 
sive  legislation  their  industries  have  been  thriving 
and  their  wealth  increasing. 

2.  Voluntary  limitations.  By  far  the  most 
important  limitations  upon  the  length  of  the 
working  day  have  been  achieved  by  the  voluntary 


Shorter  Working  Periods         265 

action  of  employers,  frequently  in  cooperation 
with  organizations  of  employees,  but  very  often 
as  a  purely  voluntary  measure.  Philanthropic 
organizations  have  fostered  this  proposition,  it  is 
true,  but  it  has  also  the  direct  and  active  support 
of  both  employers  and  employees.  Without  the 
intervention  of  law,  upon  this  subject,  some  of  the 
great  industrial  organizations,  such  as  the  United 
States  Steel  Corporation,  have  recently  provided 
for  one  day  of  rest  in  each  week  for  their  many  thou 
sands  of  employees;  and  this  has  been  done  with 
out  injury  to  production  or  earnings.  Recently, 
the  American  Telephone  Company  voluntarily 
reduced  the  working  hours  of  its  28,000  employees, 
most  of  whom  are  women.  Similarly,  many 
other  important  industrial  organizations  have 
found  it  to  their  economic  advantage  to  shorten 
the  work  day,  with  the  specific  declaration  that  it 
produced  greater  efficiency.  As  the  use  of  machin 
ery  has  increased,  it  has  had  as  a  consequence  the 
raising  of  wages  simultaneously  with  a  reduction 
of  the  hours  of  work.  The  labor  organizations, 
one  of  whose  cardinal  principles  is  the  reduction 
of  hours  of  labor,  assert  their  conviction,  approved 
by  experience,  that  the  reduction  of  hours  to  the 
present  "fair  standard  "  of  eight  per  day  means  not 
only  advantage  to  the  individuals  concerned,  but 
is  also  to  the  economic  advantage  of  the  industry 
as  well  as  of  the  community  as  a  whole.  To  bear 
this  out,  they  point  to  the  fact  that  those  industries 
in  which  working  hours  have  been  reduced  are  the 


266  America  to  Japan 

most  prosperous  and  progressive,  and  have  been 
able  to  compete  with  all  others. 

Long  hours,  it  has  been  abundantly  demon 
strated,  must  result  physiologically  in  the  impair 
ment  of  energy,  decrease  in  efficiency,  and  the 
consequent  bad  effect  on  the  output.  It  has  been 
shown  that  workers  accomplish  less,  while  they 
commit  more  mistakes,  in  the  last  hours  of  a  long 
day.  The  shorter  work  day  gives  opportunity  for 
rest  and  recreation,  and  improves  not  only  the 
physical  well-being  of  the  worker,  but  also  his 
mental  and  moral  condition.  Efficiency  has  come 
to  be  regarded  as  most  important  even  in  so-called 
unskilled  trades.  It  has  been  shown,  for  instance, 
in  paper  manufacture,  where  the  hours  of  labor 
were  reduced  one-third,  wages  remaining  the  same, 
that  the  cost  of  production  was  less  than  during 
the  period  of  longer  hours,  owing  to  the  higher 
grade  of  efficiency  developed  and  the  less  frequent 
mistakes.  In  many  of  the  countries  where  manu 
facturing  is  new,  as  well  as  in  the  experience  of 
those  countries  where  manufactures  are  most 
important,  long  hours  have  prevailed,  on  the 
assumption  that  it  was  necessary  in  order  to 
obtain  a  low  cost  of  production  with  which  to 
compete  in  the  world's  markets.  This  is  now 
shown  to  be  an  error,  and  that  hand  in  hand  with 
shorter  hours  of  labor  comes  more  efficient  and 
cheaper  production. 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION  OF  AMERICAN 
WOMEN 

BY   M.    L.    BURTON,    PH.D.,    LL.D. 

President,  Smith  College 

I  HAVE  read  with  deep  interest  the  volume 
entitled  Japan  to  America.  Those  messages, 
written  by  the  leading  statesmen,  educators,  and 
business  men  of  Japan,  will  do  much  toward 
helping  America  to  a  more  accurate  and  sym 
pathetic  understanding  of  her  great  neighbor 
across  the  Pacific.  In  turn  we  trust  that  this  book 
will  help  the  Japanese  people  to  interpret  America 
as  her  best  citizens  desire  to  have  her  interpreted. 
This  brief  statement  about  the  higher  education 
of  American  women  is  written  for  the  Japanese 
people  and  is  intended  to  convey  to  them  the  out 
standing  facts  of  a  very  significant  movement  in 
American  life. 

Our  educational  system  as  a  whole  reflects  our 
national  aims  and  ideals.  For  both  boys  and  girls 
at  every  period  of  their  development  the  United 
States  intends  to  provide  the  very  best  training. 
Our  great  public  school  system  extending  from 
the  kindergarten  to  the  State  University  is  an 

267 


268  America  to  Japan 

expression  of  American  democracy.  Likewise 
when  we  speak  more  specifically  of  the  education 
of  women  we  must  recognize  that  the  privileges 
which  are  accorded  to  women  in  America  are  only 
another  evidence  of  the  fundamental  policies  and 
traditions  of  a  free  country.  Our  separate  public 
high  schools  for  girls  in  many  of  our  large  cities, 
and  the  various  types  of  colleges  for  women 
scattered  throughout  the  country  are  a  natural 
and  inevitable  outgrowth  of  a  civilization  which 
accords  a  high  position  to  women. 


Fifty  years  ago  serious  objections  were  made  to 
the  higher  education  of  women.  It  was  said  that 
they  were  not  equal  physically  and  nervously  to 
the  demands  of  a  college  course.  It  was  argued 
that  four  years  of  advanced  study  would  under 
mine  the  health  of  the  college  woman  and  affect 
seriously  the  life  of  future  generations.  By  some 
it  was  maintained  that  woman  was  not  mentally 
equal  to  the  requirements  of  a  higher  education. 
It  was  believed  by  many  that  a  college  training 
would  rob  woman  of  her  native  charm  and  woman 
liness.  To-day  these  and  many  other  objections 
are  rarely  heard.  Practically  all  of  the  traditional 
arguments  against  the  higher  education  of  women 
have  vanished.  In  the  light  of  the  actual  experi 
ence  of  the  last  few  decades  no  one  is  now  unduly 
concerned  about  our  women's  colleges.  Woman 


The  Higher  Education  269 

has  not  lost  her  womanliness,  nor  has  she  been 
found  lacking  in  mentality.  Her  physical  vigor 
has  been  improved  rather  than  impaired.  The 
pioneer  stage  has  passed.  College  women  in 
America  are  no  longer  burdened  with  the  re 
sponsibility  of  vindicating  the  wisdom  of  a  new 
venture.  It  would  simply  be  carrying  coals  to 
Newcastle  to  enter  into  any  argument  in  defense 
of  colleges  for  women  or  to  contend  for  their 
established  prerogatives.  Their  success  has  been 
well  nigh  complete.  To-day  our  men  and  women 
of  means  stand  ready  to  support  these  institutions 
by  generous  contributions.  Within  a  few  years 
several  of  our  large  colleges  for  women  have 
received  gifts  amounting  to  many  millions  of 
dollars. 

In  view  of  the  actual  facts,  I  trust  that  it  may 
not  seem  unduly  boastful  to  point  out  that  America 
has  led  the  world  in  this  great  movement.  In  no 
country  are  there  higher  institutions  of  learning 
for  women,  which  in  equipment,  endowment, 
teaching  staff  and  student  enrolment  can  com 
pare  with  the  large  colleges  for  women  in  America. 


II 


We  have  various  types  of  colleges  in  which 
women  may  study.  Throughout  the  Middle  and 
Far  West  there  are  the  co-educational  institutions. 
In  the  pioneer  days  there  were  not  sufficient 
resources  to  establish  in  the  newer  states  separate 


270  America  to  Japan 

colleges  for  men  and  women.  The  state  universi 
ties  supported  by  public  funds  were  necessarily 
open  to  both  sexes.  As  a  consequence,  outside  of 
New  England,  the  great  majority  of  higher  institu 
tions  are  open  on  equal  terms  to  both  men  and 
women.  For  example,  the  state  Universities  of 
Michigan,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  Wash 
ington,  and  California  are  attended  literally  by 
thousands  of  women. 

In  the  East  another  type  of  college  somewhat 
similar  to  the  co-educational  institutions  has  been 
developing.  This  type  may  be  called  the  affiliated 
college.  Notable  examples  of  this  form  of  organi 
zation  are  Radcliffe  College  at  Harvard  University, 
Barnard  College  at  Columbia  University,  and 
Pembroke  College  at  Brown  University.  In  these 
instances  the  women's  college  is  allied  with  a 
great  university  for  men  and  enjoys  many  of  the 
advantages  which  such  an  environment  naturally 
affords.  The  women  have  their  separate  buildings 
and  lecture  halls.  While  the  men  and  women  are 
completely  segregated  for  class  work,  they  usually 
receive  instruction  from  the  same  teachers. 

The  most  distinctive  type,  however,  is  the 
separate  college  for  women.  These  institutions 
have  developed  within  the  last  half -century. 
Vassar  College  at  Poughkeepsie,  New  York, 
opened  in  1861;  Wellesley  College  at  Wellesley, 
Massachusetts,  and  Smith  College  at  Northamp 
ton,  Massachusetts,  opened  in  1875;  Bryn  Mawr 
College  at  Bryn  Mawr,  Pennsylvania,  opened  in 


The  Higher  Education  271 

1885,  and  Mount  Holyoke  College  at  South  Had- 
ley,  Massachusetts,  became  a  college -in  1893. 
Mount  Holyoke  College  is  the  oldest  organization, 
having  opened  its  door  as  a  seminary  in  1837. 
Of  these  five  institutions,  Smith  College  is  the 
largest,  with  a  student  enrolment  of  1638,  and 
Bryn  Mawr  the  smallest,  with  472  students.  In 
these  separate  colleges  we  find  a  complete  organi 
zation  existing  solely  for  the  higher  education  of 
women. 


Ill 


Doubtless,  the  reader  will  be  interested  to  know 
something  of  the  actual  work  of  these  colleges. 
The  average  age  of  students  at  entrance  is  about 
eighteen  years.  Every  student  before  entering 
has  completed  a  four-year  course  of  study  in  some 
standard  secondary  school.  At  Smith  College  our 
students  come  from  every  state  in  the  Union  and 
have  prepared  both  in  private  secondary  schools 
and  in  public  high  schools.  For  entrance  every 
student  must  offer  four  years  of  Latin  (or  three 
years  of  Greek),  three  years  of  English,  two  and  one 
half  years  of  Mathematics,  one  year  of  History,  and 
four  other  units  selected  from  modern  languages  or 
sciences.  She  must  offer  a  total  of  fourteen  and 
one  half  units  for  entrance.  In  the  light  of  these 
requirements  it  will  be  seen  at  once  that  the 
students  have  been  carefully  selected  and  are 
prepared  for  advanced  work. 


272  America  to  Japan 

In  college,  under  certain  restrictions,  they  are 
offered  opportunities  for  study  in  all  the  branches 
of  learning  usually  found  in  a  college  of  liberal 
arts.  At  Smith  College  we  have  twenty-three 
departments.  All  of  the  main  divisions  of  knowl 
edge  are  open  to  the  student  during  the  four  years. 
In  order  of  size,  our  largest  departments  are 
English,  History,  French,  German,  Mathematics, 
and  Latin.  Courses  are  offered  in  all  the  principal 
languages  and  literatures,  in  the  sciences,  in  the 
fine  arts,  in  history,  government,  economics  and 
sociology,  and  in  philosophy.  In  other  words, 
these  institutions  stand  distinctly  for  a  broad, 
liberal  education  and  not  for  vocational  or  techni 
cal  training.  The  separate  college  for  women  does 
not  assume  that  its  responsibility  for  the  student 
ceases  with  the  class  room  or  laboratory.  It 
endeavors  to  create  an  environment  in  which  the 
best  opportunities  for  the  acquisition  of  knowledge 
and  the  development  of  character  are  afforded. 


IV 


In  conclusion  it  may  be  wise  to  state  briefly  the 
fundamental  aims  and  ideals  which  lie  back  of  this 
great  movement.  Sophia  Smith,  the  founder  of 
Smith  College,  formulated  her  plan  in  these  words : 

the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  an  institution 
for  the  higher  education  of  young  women,  with  the 
design  to  furnish  them  means  and  facilities  for  educa- 


The  Higher  Education  273 

tion  equal  to  those  which  are  afforded  in  our  colleges 
for  young  men. 

These  colleges  rest  upon  the  unqualified  assump 
tion  that  woman  is  capable  of  the  same  intellectual 
work  as  man.  They  aim  to  give  to  their  students 
a  broad,  liberal  training  and  to  acquaint  them  with 
the  principal  fields  of  knowledge.  They  desire 
to  train  graduates  who  can  think  clearly,  consecu 
tively  and  conclusively  and  to  equip  women  to 
attack  new  problems,  to  meet  trying  situations, 
and  to  cope  with  unexpected  conditions.  They 
aim  to  send  forth  women  who  are  not  controlled 
by  prejudice  or  superstition,  but  who  have  the 
true  scientific  point  of  view.  They  seek  to  produce 
the  person  who  is  satisfied  with  nothing  but  the 
facts,  who  has  an  open  mind,  and  is  aglow  with  a 
passion  for  the  truth.  They  aim  to  help  their 
students  not  only  to  think  correctly  but  to  feel 
correctly.  They  hope  to  give  them  the  ability  to 
appreciate  aesthetic  values  and  to  recognize 
excellence  and  worth  in  whatever  form  it  may 
appear.  They  endeavor  to  develop  women  of 
judgment,  who  have  the  ability  to  weigh  evidence. 
The  college  woman  of  America  possesses  an  in 
stinctive  sense  which  enables  her  to  reject  im 
possible  assertions,  and  a  firmness  which  prevents 
her  from  yielding  to  waves  of  emotion  and  passion. 
She  is  sane,  dependable,  and  marked  by  a  stability 
which  does  great  credit  to  American  colleges.  She 

realizes  that  a  person  is  educated  in  proportion  as 
it 


274  America  to  Japan 

he  is  related  intimately  and  directly  to  the  great 
life  of  the  world.  She  is  thoroughly  social-minded. 
These  at  least  are  the  great  ideals  toward  which 
she  strives.  The  American  college  for  women  is 
aiming  at  culture,  scholarship,  character,  and 
womanhood.  Without  sacrificing  any  of  the 
beautiful  and  unique  qualities  which  have  always 
been  the  glory  of  woman,  these  institutions  seek 
to  produce  women  who  are  equal  to  the  demands 
and  emergencies  of  modern  civilization. 

I  can  do  no  better  than  to  quote  here  the  words 
of  a  graduate  of  Smith  College  when  she  was  asked 
what  a  college  education  in  her  opinion  meant  to  a 
woman.  She  said: 

Wide  interests  and  sympathies  and  the  ability  to 
get  along  with  people,  self-reliance  and  a  recognition 
of  one's  capacities  and  limitations,  a  more  or  less  well- 
formulated  purpose  and  a  sense  of  true  values,  a  love 
for  the  very  best  and  a  desire  to  find  it,  together  with 
knowledge,  memories  and  friendships — these  are 
some  of  the  items  which  go  to  make  up  the  sum  total 
of  increased  general  efficiency  which  is,  in  my  opinion, 
what  a  college  education  means  to  a  woman. 

In  this  brief  chapter  I  have  endeavored  to  point 
out  the  difficulties  against  which  our  colleges  for 
women  at  first  contended,  to  indicate  the  various 
types  of  colleges  open  to  women,  to  give  some 
insight  into  the  actual  work  of  these  institutions, 
and  to  set  forth  their  standards  and  ideals.  These 
statements  are  not  intended  to  carry  the  implica- 


The  Higher  Education  275 

tion  that  our  colleges  for  women  have  realized 
these  lofty  aims  or  are  not  struggling  with  serious 
problems.  Like  all  healthy,  virile,  growing  or 
ganisms  they  have  their  limitations  and  are 
seeking  to  overcome  them.  That  these  higher 
institutions  of  learning  for  women  are  making  a 
distinct  contribution  to  the  life  of  America  no  one 
can  question.  No  nation  and  no  civilization  rises 
above  the  position  which  it  accords  to  its  women. 


STRANGERS  BECOME  NEIGHBORS 

BY  HAMILTON  W.   MABIE 

Author,  Editor,  and  Publicist 

WHEN  the  veil,  which,  for  centuries,  hid  Japan 
from  the  world,  was  lifted  sixty-three  years  ago 
there  was  revealed  to  the  West  a  highly  developed 
civilization  unique  in  its  sharply- defined  individu 
ality.  During  two  centuries  of  rapidly  growing 
intimacy  of  relations  between  nations  Japan  had 
remained  in  a  seclusion  so  complete  that  any  kind 
of  intercourse  of  a  Japanese  with  a  foreign  country 
was  punishable  by  death.  The  courage  and  ability 
of  the  Japanese  people  had  preserved  the  islands 
from  encroachment  by  Asia  or  Europe,  and  the 
policy  of  seclusion  rigidly  enforced  shut  out  foreign 
influences  of  every  kind.  Japan  is  the  only  modern 
country  which  has  developed  itself  from  within. 
Its  earlier  accessibility  to  the  culture  of  Asia  laid 
it  under  great  obligations  to  China  and  India  and 
greatly  enriched  its  intellectual  and  artistic  life. 
It  was  as  eager  to  learn  from  Asia  as  it  has  since 
been  eager  to  learn  from  the  West;  but  after  1637 
its  forms  of  social  and  political  life  were  developed 
in  complete  isolation. 

276 


Strangers  Become  Neighbors     277 

As  a  result  of  this  policy  of  seclusion  Japan 
preserved  her  old  civilization  almost  intact,  but 
she  paid  a  large  price  for  immunity  from  foreign 
influence.  While  other  countries  were  becoming 
acquainted  with  one  another  she  remained  a 
stranger.  Her  first  intercourse  with  the  West  had 
awakened  her  suspicions  and  the  fear  of  an  insidi 
ous  undermining  of  her  independence  led  to  a  war 
of  extermination  which  implanted  distrust  and 
dislike  deep  in  the  minds  of  the  people.  The  in 
tensity  of  antagonism  to  the  opening  of  the  coun 
try  to  foreign  influence  in  1853  was  evidenced  by 
assaults  on  foreigners  and  by  armed  protests  in 
many  parts  of  the  Empire.  This  dislike  of  foreign 
ers  and  the  bitterness  of  resentment  of  their 
intrusion  was  not  only  natural ;  under  the  circum 
stances,  it  was  inevitable.  It  was  the  expression 
of  a  feeling  so  ancient  that  it  became  instinctive 
among  every  people  until  it  was  modified  or 
removed  by  intercourse. 

But  this  antagonism  must  be  remembered  to 
day  when  racial  prejudice  confronts  the  Japanese 
in  different  parts  of  the  world.  Japan  has  passed 
through  the  stage  of  antagonism  to  foreigners ;  but 
the  memory  of  the  disorders  and  outbreaks  be 
tween  1853  and  1870  must  help  her  to  understand 
the  apprehensions  of  peoples  of  other  countries 
who  misunderstand  her  spirit  and  character  as  she 
formerly  misunderstood  the  spirit  of  the  Western 
nations.  It  is  true,  the  story  of  Western  aggres 
sions  in  the  East  was  of  a  character  to  put  Japan 


278  America  to  Japan 

on  the  defensive,  but  Americans  had  no  part  in  the 
spoliation  of  the  Orient;  and  Commodore  Perry 
and  Mr.  Townsend  Harris  were  not  only  the 
messengers  of  a  government  which  desired  peace 
ful  relations  with  Japan  but  the  spirit  and  bearing 
of  both  happily  interpreted  the  attitude  of  the 
nation  they  represented.  Their  purpose  and  the 
purpose  of  the  government  behind  them  were 
wholly  friendly.  Japan  had  reason  to  suspect 
other  governments  of  sinister  designs  on  her 
integrity,  but  the  Americans  had  never  taken  a 
foot  of  territory  in  the  East  and  the  declarations 
of  peace  and  amity  which  Commodore  Perry 
made  to  the  Shogun  were  entirely  sincere;  and 
they  still  express  the  feeling  of  Americans;  even 
those  who  distrust  the  aims  of  Japan  and  insist 
on  the  exclusion  of  Japanese  laborers  have  no 
unfriendly  designs  on  the  Empire. 

Race  antagonisms  of  all  kinds  are  survivals  of 
the  ancient  dislike  and  distrust  of  the  stranger; 
they  were  born  in  the  period  of  race  separation, 
and  they  thrive  in  seclusion.  This  was  the  history 
of  the  antagonism  to  foreigners  in  Japan  during 
the  two  decades  which  followed  the  opening  of  the 
Empire;  it  is  largely  the  cause  of  the  antagonism 
to  the  Japanese  in  certain  parts  of  the  United 
States.  Neither  country  is  without  fault:  both 
countries  must  be  patient. 

For  it  is  profoundly  true,  as  Count  Okuma  has 
more  than  once  declared,  that  such  antagonisms 
cannot  be  prevented  by  law  nor  can  they  be  re- 


Strangers  Become  Neighbors     279 

moved  by  diplomacy ;  their  cure  is  to  be  found  in  a 
higher  ideal  of  the  spirit  and  service  of  nationality 
in  the  evolution  of  society.  In  a  word,  race  an 
tagonisms  can  be  modified  and  destroyed  only  by 
the  education  which  comes  with  increased  inter 
racial  intercourse  and  knowledge.  So  long  as  a 
man  is  a  stranger  he  is  more  or  less  on  trial,  if  not 
distrusted;  when  he  becomes  an  acquaintance  he 
may  not  be  entirely  congenial,  but  he  ceases  to  be 
a  "suspect." 

Sixty  years  is  a  very  short  time  as  time  is 
reckoned  in  international  intercourse,  and  this 
necessity  of  opportunity  of  getting  acquainted  is 
emphasized  in  the  case  of  Japan  and  the  United 
States.  The  American  is  a  very  strange  person  to 
the  Japanese;  his  dress  is  inartistic  and  entirely 
arbitrary  in  line  and  shape;  his  manners,  judged 
by  the  Oriental  standard,  are  abrupt  and  crude; 
his  feeling  for  the  amenities  and  courtesies  of  life 
is  rudimentary;  and  his  scale  of  values  often 
seems  as  crude  as  his  manners.  He  seems  to  think 
that  life  exists  for  the  sake  of  business,  that  art  is 
a  frivolity  and  social  intercourse  a  waste  of  time. 
He  is  like  an  untrained  child  eagerly  pushing 
along  a  path  which  the  Orient  long  ago  discovered 
led  further  and  further  away  from  the  enduring 
satisfactions  of  life. 

To  the  Japanese  untraveled  or  untrained  the 
American  is  the  strange  product  of  a  topsy-turvy 
civilization.  To  the  American  in  the  same  condi 
tion  of  mind  the  Japanese,  although  he  wears  an 


280  America  to  Japan 

obviously  dignified  costume,  is  an  "outlandish" 
figure.  The  very  word  "outlandish"  embodies  a 
long  chapter  of  history.  His  manners  are  so  in 
sinuating  that  they  cannot  be  sincere,  his  polite 
ness  is  so  excessive  that  it  is  sinister.  It  is  a 
suggestive  fact  that  the  impolite  races — the 
Americans,  the  English,  the  Germans,  the  Scandi 
navians — suspect  the  sincerity  of  the  polite  races— 
the  Latin  races  and  the  Orientals.  There  are 
many  Occidentals  to  whom  every  Oriental  is  a 
suspect  simply  because  he  is  so  different;  in  other 
words,  because  he  is  so  unmistakably  a  stranger. 

It  is  one  of  the  dramatic  events  of  the  revolu 
tionary  experience  through  which  the  world  is 
passing  that  the  Turks,  who  cut  the  early  lines  of 
communication  between  the  East  and  West  five 
hundred  years  ago  and  more,  are  likely  to  be 
driven  back  into  Asia.  When  Constantinople  fell 
in  1453  it  would  have  seemed  to  any  man  who  knew 
the  difficulties  and  dangers  which  beset  trade  and 
travel  between  Europe  and  Asia,  as  if  relations 
between  the  two  hemispheres  were  ended  beyond 
hope  of  reestablishment.  But  the  Japanese 
proverb,  "the  darkest  place  is  at  the  base  of  the 
lighthouse,"  held  true  in  an  hour  which  apparently 
destroyed  the  hope  of  racial  fraternity.  The  dis 
aster  which  closed  three  perilous  routes  between 
the  China  Sea  and  the  Mediterranean  helped  on  an 
impulse  which  later  made  the  greater  seas  high 
ways  between  the  Oldest  and  the  Newest  Worlds. 
The  closing  of  the  old  paths  mightily  stirred  the 


Strangers  Become  Neighbors     281 

spirit  of  adventure  to  turn  the  prows  of  ships 
westward,  and  the  discoverers  of  America  were 
one  and  all  on  their  way  to  Japan,  China,  and  India. 
America  came  to  light  incidentally  in  the  search 
for  passageways  to  the  Far  East,  and  the  peoples 
who  were  complete  strangers  to  one  another  were 
destined,  from  the  hour  Columbus  sailed,  to  be 
come  neighbors. 

It  takes  time  to  become  neighbors;  knowledge, 
respect,  and  friendship  are  not  born  in  a  day;  on 
both  sides  of  the  Pacific  two  alert  and  intelligent 
races  who  know  the  law  of  evolution  must  learn 
the  lesson  of  patience. 


AMERICA'S  REAL  INTEREST  IN  THE 
ORIENT 

BY  LINDSAY  RUSSELL 

Member  New  York  Bar;  Founder  and  President, 
Japan  Society 

THE  guns  of  the  American  Revolution  had 
scarcely  ceased  firing  when  the  Empress  of  China 
sailed,  in  1784,  from  Boston  for  Canton — then 
nearer  to  New  England  than  our  middle  western 
States.  This  marked  our  advent  into  the  Orient, 
and  now  after  more  than  a  hundred  years  of  agita 
tion  in  this  country  about  China's  wonderful  trade 
possibilities,  with  all  our  political  activity  and  Sec 
retary  Hay's  bringing  the  United  States  forward 
as  the  chief  exponent  and  guardian  of  the  open 
door,  our  total  exports  to  China  in  1913,  out  of 
our  total  export  trade  of  more  than  $2,000,000,000, 
amounted  to  only  about  $21,000,000, — scarcely 
the  output  of  a  single  modern  industrial  plant, — 
while  our  sales  to  Japan,  which  opened  up  trade 
with  us  a  little  over  fifty  years  ago,  amounted  in 
1913  to  about  $57,000,000.  In  other  words, 
Japan's  trade  is  worth  nearly  three  times  as  much 
to  us  as  all  that  enters  the  "open  door"  of  China. 

282 


America's  Interest  in  the  Orient  283 

Our  direct  exports  to  China  consist  largely  of 
Standard  Oil  products,  cotton,  flour,  tobacco,  and 
machinery — articles  which  will  find  a  market  there 
with  or  without  the  so-called  "open  door." 

Of  what  avail  is  the  "open  door"  to  us?  Can 
an  American  construct  a  railway,  build  a  factory, 
or  operate  a  mine  in  China  with  any  assurance  that, 
China  failing,  he  will  be  afforded  any  greater  pro 
tection  there  by  the  United  States  than  in  Mexico  ? 
Absence  of  good  faith  in  the  matter  of  treaty 
obligations,  and  the  failure  to  afford  security  for 
foreign  capital  invested  in  China,  are  a  menace  to 
all  foreigners.  Failing  ourselves  to  remedy  these 
conditions,  why  then  should  we  object  to  any 
other  nation  doing  so  ? 

Bernhardi  says  of  the  "open  door" 

The  policy  of  the  "open  door"  does  not  guarantee 
the  certainty  of  an  open  and  unrestricted  trade  com 
petition.  It  secures  to  all  trading  nations  equal 
tariffs,  but  this  does  not  imply  by  any  means  com 
petition  under  equal  conditions.  On  the  contrary,  the 
political  power  which  is  exercised  in  such  a  country 
is  the  determining  factor  in  the  economic  relations. 
The  principle  of  the  open  door  prevails  everywhere — • 
in  Egypt,  in  Manchuria,  in  the  Congo  States,  in 
Morocco — and  everywhere  the  politically  dominant 
Power  controls  the  commerce:  In  Manchuria,  Japan; 
in  Egypt,  England;  in  the  Congo  State,  Belgium;  and 
in  Morocco,  France.  The  reason  is  plain.  All 
State  concessions  fall  naturally  to  that  State  which  is 
practically  dominant;  its  products  are  bought  by  all 


284  America  to  Japan 

the  consumers  who  are  in  any  way  dependent  on  the 
power  of  the  State,  quite  apart  from  the  fact  that  by 
reduced  tariffs  and  similar  advantages  for  the  favored 
wares  the  concession  of  the  open  door  can  be  evaded  in 
various  ways.  A  policy  of  the  open  door  must  at 
best  be  regarded  as  a  makeshift. 

Many  are  inclined  to  blame  Japan  for  the  cur 
tailment  of  our  trade  in  China,  but  the  reasons 
why  Great  Britain  and  Japan  have  outstripped  us 
in  this  field  are  apparent.  In  the  first  place  we  are 
more  seriously  engaged  with  trade  opportunities 
at  our  very  doors.  Canada  alone  took  $415,000,- 
ooo  worth  of  our  products  in  1913,  and  Mexico,  when 
conditions  are  normal  there,  annually  consumes 
$50,000,000  worth.  In  South  America  only  the  sur 
face  has  been  scratched.  In  the  second  place  the 
United  States  is  six  thousand  miles  from  China's 
"open  door, "  whereas  Japan  is  only  three  hundred 
miles  distant,  and,  like  Great  Britain  and  France, 
and  formerly  Germany,  has  a  sphere  of  influence 
which  permits  it  to  dominate  trade  arteries. 

The  idea  of  an  Oriental  commercial  base  or 
sphere  of  influence  was  the  actuating  motive  in  the 
mind  of  our  Government  in  1898  when  the  Philip 
pines  were  taken  over,  although  public  opinion 
may  have  been  influenced  in  favor  thereof  on 
humanitarian  grounds.  The  uselessness  of  the 
Philippines  for  this  purpose  is  now  apparent.  It 
would  also  appear  that  the  authorities  at  that 
time  overlooked  the  fact  that  a  sphere  of  influence, 
to  be  effective,  must  be  contiguous  to  the  body 


America's  Interest  in  the  Orient  285 

politic  of  the  country  whose  trade  is  to  be  influ 
enced.  Hongkong  or  Shanghai,  if  five  hundred 
miles  distant  from  China,  would  be  as  utterly 
useless  as  the  Philippines  as  an  entrepot  to  China's 
trade.  For  instance,  Bermuda,  as  a  commercial 
base  or  sphere  of  influence  to  gain  our  trade  is 
ineffectual,  but  if  Great  Britain  owned  Long 
Island  and  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  the  results 
would  be  different. 

Another  reason  why  Great  Britain,  Germany, 
and  Japan  have  dominated  the  trade  in  China  is 
that  the  two  latter  countries  have  subsidized 
merchant  marines  and  all  three  have  helped  their 
merchants  through  ''dollar  diplomacy."  At  the 
very  time  we  abandoned  this  policy  all  the  British 
ministerial  offices  dealing  with  foreign  affairs 
were  occupied  with  strengthening  their  commercial 
relations.  The  Foreign  Office  and  the  Colonial 
Office  were  chiefly  engaged  in  finding  new  markets 
and  defending  old  ones;  the  War  Office  and  the 
Admiralty  were  mainly  preparing  for  the  defense 
of  these  markets.  To  quote  the  late  Mr.  Cham 
berlain  : 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  commerce  is  the 
greatest  of  all  political  interests,  and  that  Government 
deserves  the  most  popular  approval  which  does  the 
most  to  increase  trade  and  set  it  on  a  firm  foundation. 

To  illustrate  the  relative  importance  of  shipping 
in  China,  the  number  and  tonnage  of  foreign  vessels 
entering  and  clearing  that  country  in  1912  were: 


286  America  to  Japan 

Flag  Number  Tonnage 

British  31 ,909  38,106,732 

Japanese  20,091  19,913,385 

German  4,778  6,171,684 

French  1,836  1,634,468 

American  1,622  715,001 

Minister  Reinsch  is  authority  for  the  statement 
that  the  disappearance  of  the  American  flag  from 
Chinese  waters  is  due  partly  to  the  Treaty  of  1881 
which  prescribes  that  American  subjects  or  ships 
are  not  to  import  opium  into  any  of  the  open  ports 
of  China. 

According  to  the  same  authority,  one  of  the 
impelling  motives  of  President  McKinley's  admin 
istration  in  taking  the  Philippines  was  to  protect 
and  keep  open  our  trade  routes  to  China;  and 
now  after  seventeen  years  we  have  only  one  credit 
able  steamship  line  on  that  route ;  and  that  com 
pany  Congress  is  endeavoring  to  hamper  and 
destroy  by  excluding  it  from  the  Panama  Canal 
and  encumbering  it  with  the  burdensome  require 
ments  of  the  Seaman's  Bill,  the  provisions  of  which 
may  render  the  successful  operation  of  the  line 
a  financial  impossibility. 

This,  in  conjunction  with  the  failure  of  the 
Islands  as  a  sphere  of  influence,  and  their  arrested 
development  by  the  insecurity  and  uncertainty 
of  their  future,  surely  negatives  every  practical 
consideration  which  prompted  their  inclusion 
under  our  sovereignty. 


America's  Interest  in  the  Orient  287 

In  addition  to  their  better  shipping  facilities, 
our  competitors  have  trained  salesmen  to  deal  with 
the  Chinese,  while  the  Japanese  are  particularly 
well  equipped  as  respects  knowledge  of  local 
conditions  and  the  Chinese  language.  The  service 
that  the  East  India  Company  performed  for 
British  commerce  was  destined  to  be  later  per 
formed  for  American  commerce  by  the  Standard 
Oil  Company  and  the  American  Tobacco  Com 
pany;  but  our  Sherman  Law  prohibiting  combina 
tions  of  capital  in  restraint  of  domestic  trade,  also 
operates  to  restrict  our  foreign  trade. 

In  view  of  the  present  situation,  how  can  we 
best  secure  trade  and  commercial  advantages  in 
China  except  by  using  Japan  as  an  entrepot  and 
a  middleman  through  whom  to  sell  goods  and 
finance  Oriental  enterprises,  in  a  sense  entering 
into  a  special  partnership  and  cooperating  with 
Japan  in  the  development  of  China?  In  this  I 
do  not  contemplate  any  menace  to  China's 
integrity,  but  rather  a  stabilizing  influence.  Nor 
can  I  see  that  the  owning  of  railways  and 
mining  concessions,  the  development  of  steam 
ship  routes,  cable  lines,  and  telegraphs,  or  even 
the  temporary  exercise  of  police  powers  by  other 
nations,  where  China  herself  fails  to  preserve  or 
der,  can  be  other  than  beneficial  to  China  in  the 
long  run. 

Foreign  capital  invested  in  the  United  States  in 
the  past  one  hundred  years  has  never  resulted  other 
than  beneficially  to  us.  In  fact,  so  much  do  we 


288  America  to  Japan 

value  and  so  desirable  to  us  is  foreign  capital, 
that  there  are  but  few  cities  in  the  United  States 
which  do  not  now  maintain  or  have  not  in  the  past 
maintained  a  special  committee  for  soliciting  and 
encouraging  local  investment  of  capital  from  other 
states  and  countries.  The  United  States  is  in 
different  as  to  who  owns  its  factories,  mines,  and 
railways,  so  long  as  the  wheels  of  industry  are  kept 
running.  For  instance,  our  grants  in  years  past  to 
railways,  some  of  them  owned  almost  entirely  by 
foreigners,  carried  land  equivalent  to  an  empire 
larger  than  Japan. 

China  should  learn  from  us;  she  should  welcome 
an  industrial  invasion,  and,  if  we  can  judge  from 
our  own  history,  the  Chinese  will  in  time  them 
selves  own  the  railways,  mines,  and  factories  so 
established.  This  will  come  about  through  assimi 
lation  of  one  kind  or  another  which  is  certain  to 
take  place,  as  is  evidenced  by  precedent  in  other 
countries.  But,  and  herein  lies  the  difficulty, 
the  foreign  capitalist  does  not  dare  to  invest  in 
China  without  the  assurance  that  his  own  country 
will  protect  him  and  will  uphold  the  interests  which 
he  advances. 

It  is  quite  natural  that  Japan's  superior  civiliza 
tion  will  continue  with  increasing  force  to  work 
favorably  upon  the  progress  of  China,  at  least 
until  the  latter  is  able  to  govern  herself  according 
to  accepted  international  standards.  This  is  the 
rule  of  conduct  the  United  States  has  laid  down  for 
Cuba.  Why  should  not  Japan  apply  this  rule  in 


America's  Interest  in  the  Orient  289 

China  to  their  mutual  advantage?  If  I  am  cor 
rect  in  stating  that  this  is  the  situation,  it  is  a 
condition  rather  than  a  theory  which  confronts 
American  trade.  It  is  a  condition  which  will 
lead  to  Japan's  becoming  the  great  workshop 
and  factory  for  the  Orient  and  in  a  large  measure 
supplying  Oriental  countries  with  manufactured 
goods,  underselling  the  United  States  by  reason 
of  cheap  labor.  Thus  it  would  seem  to  our  best 
interest  to  cooperate  with  Japan  in  every  way 
possible,  and  ultimately  we  shall  also  benefit 
by  the  increased  purchasing  power  of  China  which 
will  come  through  Japan's  activities.  If  China 
establishes  a  strong  government  and  progresses, 
it  is  probable  that  within  the  next  twenty  years 
our  trade  with  China,  in  cooperation  with  Japan, 
will  be  immeasurably  increased. 

There  is  a  regrettable  tendency  in  this  country 
to  criticize  adversely  and  prejudge  Japan's  con 
duct  and  policy;  we  rarely  wait  for  the  facts;  if 
a  Japanese,  individual  or  corporation,  acquires  a 
concession  or  a  limited  mining  right,  it  is  immedi 
ately  cabled  throughout  the  world  that  Japan  has 
obtained  control  of  a  Chinese  province;  and  this 
notwithstanding  that  Japan's  international  con 
duct  has  generally  been  above  reproach.  In  this 
respect  she  has  stood  on  a  loftier  plane  than  many 
other  nations,  and  perhaps  this  is  why  foreigners 
seem  to  set  up  a  standard  of  judgment  for  the 
Japanese  much  higher  than  the  standard  by  which 
they  themselves  desire  to  be  judged.  This 

19 


America  to  Japan 

"holier  than  thou  "  attitude  must  be  galling  indeed 
to  our  friends  across  the  Pacific ! 

The  economic  relationship  of  Japan  and  China  is 
from  my  point  of  view  somewhat  similar  to  that 
of  the  North  and  the  South  immediately  after  the 
Civil  War,  when  the  South  so  bitterly  rebelled 
against  the  extension  of  Northern  enterprise  and 
the  investment  of  Northern  capital  in  the  South, 
to  which  she  afterwards  owed  much  of  her  recuper 
ation  and  progress.  It  is  unfortunately  true  that 
in  their  activities  in  China  many  Japanese  individu 
ally,  rather  than  the  Japanese  Government,  have 
been  indiscreet  and  have  made  themselves  offensive 
to  the  Chinese.  This  class  followed  in  the  wake  of 
the  Japanese  army  in  1895  and  again  in  1905,  as 
did  the  "carpetbaggers"  or  adventurers  after  our 
own  Civil  War,  but  I  believe  that  on  the  whole 
"Asia  for  the  Asiatics"  is  the  best  doctrine  for  the 
United  States  as  well  as  for  China  and  Japan; 
that  in  time,  European  absentee  landlords  should 
be  eliminated,  and  China,  freed  from  extraterri 
torial  claims,  should  in  time  become  her  own  mis 
tress.  If  it  becomes  necessary  for  any  other 
country  to  act  as  guardian  pro  tern.,  Japan  is  the 
logical  one  by  reason  of  geographical  propinquity, 
intimate  knowledge,  mutuality  of  interests,  and 
assimilability  of  races;  and  it  should  also  be  borne 
in  mind,  that  Japan  cannot  exploit  China  for  her 
own  interests  in  the  sense  that  a  European  nation 
can,  for  the  reason  that  China's  progress  is  Japan's 
progress,  and  vice  versa.  The  tael  that  goes  to 


America's  Interest  in  the  Orient  291 

Tokyo  ultimately  returns  to  China — the  line  of 
least  resistance  for  Japanese  investment. 

Our  Oriental  policy  has  changed  with  almost 
every  Secretary  of  State,  and  its  very  uncertainty 
is  a  puzzle  to  other  nations,  a  stumbling  block  to 
our  trade,  and  a  menace  to  our  Government. 
Japan,  on  the  contrary,  has  a  strong,  consistent, 
and  unwavering  policy,  well  understood;  and 
none  other  has  ever  had  any  appreciable  effect 
upon  the  Chinese  official  mind.  Russia,  prior  to 
the  Russo-Japanese  War,  invariably  achieved  her 
ends  by  giving  the  impression  of  irresistible  force; 
Great  Britain  made  no  progress  in  early  negotia 
tions  with  China  except  through  her  gunboat 
policy,  and  the  United  States  has  never  acquired, 
so  far  as  can  be  recalled,  a  treaty  right  or  trade 
advantage  in  China  except  by  boldly  following  in 
the  wake  of  war  and  aggression  applied  by  other 
nations. 

In  1844,  through  our  first  treaty  with  China, 
extraterritoriality  was  imposed  upon  that  nation, 
and  its  integrity  was  thus  early  given  its  first,  and 
perhaps  most  vital,  blow. 

It  is  true  that  our  Government,  in  its  relations 
to  China,  has  frequently  been  influenced  by  senti 
mental  rather  than  practical  considerations,  and 
where  the  views  of  missionary  and  merchant  have 
conflicted,  the  balance  of  public  opinion,  usually 
best  organized  by  the  former,  has  controlled. 

Times  and  conditions,  however,  have  changed; 
and  now  in  the  light  of  our  experiences  and  failures 


292  America  to  Japan 

we  should  adopt  a  constructive  and  consistent 
policy. 

This  policy  to  be  "Asia  for  the  Asiatics "  with 
non-interference  on  our  part,  except  by  way  of 
commerce,  Christian  missionaries,  and  educational 
activities.  In  addition,  the  Division  of  Far 
Eastern  Affairs  should  be  strengthened,  and  an 
executive,  eminently  qualified,  placed  at  its  head 
in  a  permanent  and  well-paid  position.  Moreover, 
American  capital  should  be  supported  and  pro 
tected  after  the  manner  of  other  Governments,  and 
should  be  allowed  to  combine  in  any  legal  way 
advantageous  to  foreign  trade,  for  it  is  thus  that 
the  door  will  be  kept  open  rather  than  by  treaties. 
Four  twelve-day  boats  should  also  be  secured,  by 
bonuses  or  otherwise,  for  the  San  Francisco- 
Yokohama  route;  the  two  existing  lines — Ameri 
can  and  Japanese — each  to  supply  two  ships.  We 
can  then  compete  with  Canada  with  its  ten-day 
boats. 

The  decision  of  our  Government  respecting  an 
Oriental  policy  is  one  of  grave  responsibility. 
The  welfare  and  progress  of  400,000,000  human 
beings  are  now  concerned  as  never  before  in  the 
proper  adjustment  of  their  neighborly  relations. 
While  I  feel  that  the  United  States  as  a  world 
power  has  its  responsibilities,  it  seems  to  me  that 
with  the  Monroe  Doctrine  to  uphold  on  this 
hemisphere,  the  troubles  in  the  Caribbean  coun 
tries  and  revolutions  in  Mexico  with  which  to  deal, 
with  10,000,000  blacks  in  the  South  whose  relations 


America's  Interest  in  the  Orient  293 

to  our  own  people  are  still  to  be  properly  adjusted, 
and  with  the  Philippines  and  their  serious  prob 
lems,  to  which  are  to  be  added  the  many  complica 
tions  with  European  countries  arising  out  of  the 
present  war,  the  United  States  has  its  full  share 
of  the  white  man's  burden.  While  this  country 
remains  "a  government  of  the  people,  for  the 
people,  and  by  the  people,"  our  wise  policy  will 
be  that  of  non-interference  with  other  nations  so 
long  as  they  do  not  interfere  with  us.  Let  us 
beware  of  the  complications  and  futilities  of 
imperialism. 


LANDMARKS  IN  JAPANESE-AMERICAN 
RELATIONS 


I797-I9I5 

n 

The  following  items  in  chronological  order  show 
the  development  of  friendly  relations  between  the 
United  States  and  Japan  from  1797  to  1915. 

1797 

The  Eliza,  of  New  York,  under  the  Dutch  flag, 
first  American  ship  to  enter  Japanese  waters. 

1815 

Secretary  Monroe  plans  to  send  Commodore 
Porter  to  open  Japan  to  trade. 

1816 

John  Quincy  Adams  urges  as  the  duty  of  Chris 
tian  nations  the  opening  of  Japan. 

295 


296  America  to  Japan 

1828 

Meeting  at  Brookline,  Mass.,  to  pray  for  the 
opening  of  Japan. 

1837 

The  American  ship,  Morrison,  arrives  in  Yedo 
Bay,  Japan,  in  hope  of  opening  up  trade  but  is 
driven  away  by  bombardment. 

1841 

« 

Three  Japanese  fishermen  blown  to  sea,  drift 
to  the  American  coast,  remaining  in  the  United 
States  ten  years. 

1846 

Commodore  Biddle  carries  a  friendly  letter  from 
President  Polk  to  the  Emperor,  but  is  not  per 
mitted  to  land. 

The  Lawrence,  an  American  whaler,  wrecked 
near  the  Japanese  coast. 

1848 

The  Ladoga,  another  American  whaler,  wrecked. 
1849 

Crews  of  Ladoga  and  Lawrence,  who  landed  on 
coast  of  Japan  and  were  imprisoned  in  Nagasaki, 
saved  by  the  Preble,  Commander  James  Glynn. 

It  is  estimated  that  there  was  invested  about 


Landmarks  297 

this  period  $17,000,000  in  the  whaling  industry  in 
Pacific  waters,  and  it  was  the  protection  of  Amer 
ican  whalers  which  really  led  to  the  opening  of 
Japan. 

1851 

President  Fillmore  decides  to  send  a  peaceful 
mission  to  Japan. 

1852 
Perry  sails  from  Norfolk. 

1853 
Perry  enters  Yedo  Bay,  landing  at  Kurihama. 

1854 

First  treaty  signed  at  Yokohama. 
First  Industrial  Exhibition  of  Western  inventions 
and  products. 

1856 

Townsend  Harris,  first  envoy  from  the  United 
States,  arrives  at  Shimoda. 

1858 
Treaty  of  Amity  and  Commerce  signed  in  Yedo. 

1859 

Drs.  Verbeck,  Hepburn,  Brown,  and  Williams, 
the  four  pioneer  missionaries,  reach  Japan. 


298  America  to  Japan 

1860 

Shogun's  embassy  of  seventy-one  persons  sent  to 
the  United  States. 

1861 

All  the  Legations  desert  Yedo,  but  Harris  re 
mains,  keeping  the  Stars  and  Stripes  flying. 

President  Lincoln  advises  Tycoon  of  Japan  that 
he  is  unwilling  to  grant  an  extension  of  time  for 
opening  of  "  treaty  ports"  to  American  trade. 

1862 

Robert  Pruyn  appointed  Minister  to  succeed 
Townsend  Harris  who  resigned  his  post  because  of 
failing  health. 

1863 

English  squadron  bombards  Kagoshima. 
American  ship  fired  upon  at  Shimonoseki. 
American  legation  set  on  fire  and  Pruyn  and  his 
staff  flee  to  Yokohama. 

1864 

The  allied  English,  French,  Dutch,  and  Amer 
ican  squadrons  bombard  Shimonoseki. 

Japanese  Embassy  return  from  Europe  with  the 
astounding  discovery  "that  it  was  not  the  for 
eigners,  but  we  ourselves  who  are  barbarians. " 


Landmarks  299 

1865 

The  Mikado  gives  formal  sanction  to  treaties. 
1866 

First  Tariff  convention — ad  valorem  duty  of 
five  per  cent,  on  most  imported  articles. 

The  first  two  Japanese  students  arrive  at  New 
Brunswick,  New  Jersey. 

1868 

Iron-clad  ram  Stonewall  sold  to  Japanese 
Government  for  $400,000. 

Editorial  in  The  Independent — "The  Japanese 
Students  in  America." 

1870 

The  stream  of  students  attending  American 
colleges  and  universities  increases. 

Eleven  Japanese  settle  in  San  Francisco — be 
ginning  of  Japanese  residence  in  the  Golden  State. 

William  H.  Seward  in  Japan. 

1871 

First  of  the  new  public  schools,  with  training 
class  for  teachers,  organized  at  Fukui,  in  Echizen, 
by  Dr.  W.  E.  Griffis. 

A  National  System  of  Education  on  American 
models  planned  for  the  Empire. 

1872-85 

John  A.  Bingham,  of  Ohio,  Minister  to  Tokio, 
serves  thirteen  years  with  great  distinction. 


300  America  to  Japan 

1872 

The  Imperial  Embassy,  headed  by  Iwakura, 
of  forty-nine  members  come  to  America  to  secure 
treaty  revision;  Kido,  Okubo,  and  Ito  among  the 
members. 

Charles  DeLong,  United  States  Minister,  ac 
companied  the  Embassy.  Congress  appropriated 
$50,000  for  entertainment. 

First  Japanese  girls  educated  in  the  United 
States. 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States  passes  a  bill 
admitting  Japanese  students  to  the  Annapolis 
Naval  Academy. 

1873 

Postal  convention  signed. 

Dr.  David  Murray  appointed  adviser  to  the 
Department  of  Education  in  Japan. 

1876 

The  Centennial  Exhibition.  Superb  exhibit  of 
Japan  excites  universal  admiration.  Beginning 
of  interest  in  Oriental  art. 

1879 

General  and  Mrs.  Grant  visit  Japan.  He 
mediates  between  China  and  Japan  on  the  Riu 
Kiu  (Loo  Choo)  complications  and  plants  peace 
trees. 


Landmarks  301 

1883 

Shimonoseki  Indemnity  amounting  to  $785,000 
returned  to  Japan. 

Second  General  Conference  of  the  106  Protest 
ant  Missionaries  (mostly  Americans)  in  Japan,  at 
Osaka. 

1884 

The  Imperial  Government  abolishes  all  sec 
tarian  restrictions  on  burial  grounds,  making  them 
"equally  accessible  to  believers  of  all  creeds." 

The  English  language  taught  in  the  public 
schools  of  Japan. 

In  Korea,  during  the  riots,  the  Japanese  Lega 
tion  becomes  the  refuge  for  Americans. 

Treaty  of  Peace,  Amity  and  Commerce  ratified, 
abrogating  all  previous  treaties  between  Japan 
and  the  United  States. 

1885 

President  Chester  A.  Arthur,  in  his  message  to 
Congress,  acknowledges  the  generous  gift  by  the 
Japanese  Government  of  ample  grounds  in  Tokio 
for  a  new  American  Legation. 

1886 

Conferences  on  treaty  revision,  during  which  the 
American  envoy  in  Tokio,  following  the  American 
policy  since  1876,  strongly  urges  the  claims  of 
Japan  to  full  sovereignty. 


302  America  to  Japan 

President  Cleveland  upholds  the  treaty  nego 
tiated  by  the  American  Minister,  Hubbard,  sup 
porting  Japan's  efforts  towards  judicial  autonomy 
and  full  sovereignty. 

The  Red  Cross  Society  founded  in  Japan. 

Extradition  treaty  between  the  United  States 
and  Japan  ratified. 

1889 

Promulgation,  by  the  Emperor,  of  the  Constitu 
tion  of  Japan  following,  by  a  century,  the  American 
precedent  of  a  written  constitution. 

1890 

The  names  of  two  renowned  Japanese  men  of 
letters,  Sugaware  Michizane  and  Rai  Sanyo,  in 
scribed,  with  the  great  names  of  all  time,  on  the 
outer  granite  walls  of  the  Boston  Public  Library. , 

Special  Japanese  students  of  agriculture  and  the 
modern  industrial  arts  sent  to  America  and 
Europe  for  education.  The  number,  to  1913, 
totaling  448. 

1894 

In  Korea,  the  Japanese  archives  and  legation, 
pending  the  war  with  China,  are  placed  in  charge 
of  the  American  minister. 

In  fulfillment  of  treaty  pledges,  the  President 
orders  the  American  Minister  at  Seoul  to  use  every 
possible  effort  to  preserve  peace  between  Japan 
and  China. 


Landmarks  303 

November  22.  Treaty  signed  at  Washington, 
recognizing  the  full  sovereignty  of  Japan.  (Not 
valid  till  1899,  as  other  treaty  powers  would  not 
agree.) 

(The  forebodings  of  foreign  residents  in  Japan 
have  never  been  realized.  Since  the  new  treaties 
abolishing  consular  courts  have  gone  into  effect, 
no  serious  complaints  have  been  made.) 

Treaty  of  Commerce  and  Navigation  between 
Japan  and  the  United  States. 

Proclamation  of  the  Emperor,  appealing  in 
affectionate  terms  to  his  people,  so  to  conduct 
themselves  that  every  source  of  dissatisfaction 
among  foreigners  might  be  removed.  He  asked 
his  people  to  honor  their  alien  guests. 

Publication  in  Boston  of  the  first  of  a  series  of 
works  on  Japan  by  Lafcadio  Hearn. 

Death  of  Ranald  McDonald  at  Astoria,  Oregon, 
the  first  teacher  of  English  in  Japan. 

1895 

The  sovereignty  of  Japan  respected  and  tender 
of  good  offices  made  by  President  Cleveland  to 
secure  peace  between  China  and  Japan. 

1897 

Friction  in  Japan  on  the  application  of  the 
American  principles  of  freedom  of  conscience 
and  of  the  separation  of  Church  and  State. 

Treaty  guaranteeing  patents,  trade  marks,  and 
designs. 


304  America  to  Japan 


The  initial  game  of  baseball  played  between  a 
Japanese  (the  First  High  School  team)  and  an 
American  nine  won  by  the  former.  Speedy  adop 
tion  of  the  game  throughout  Japan.  The  first 
Japanese  baseball  team  was  organized  by  railway 
employees  in  Tokio  in  1872. 

Death  of  Rev.  Jonathan  Goble,  mariner  in 
Commodore  Perry's  fleet,  later  missionary  in 
Japan,  recalls  his  invention,  in  1871,  of  the  jin- 
rikisha. 

1899 

New  treaties,  recognizing  the  full  sovereignty 
of  Dai  Nippon. 

Abolition  of  the  American  Consular  Court  at 
Yokohama. 

Japan  wide  open  to  unrestricted  travel  and 
residence. 

Japan  gives  pledges  with  the  United  States  to 
follow  the  ''open  door"  policy  in  China. 

1900 

The  rise  of  Japan  gives  great  importance  to 
Hawaii. 

The  Boxer  Riots  in  China.  The  military  forces 
of  Japan  and  the  United  States  marched  together 
to  the  relief  of  the  legation  in  Pekin.  "  Japan 
allied  with  Christendom. " 

The  World's  Students'  Confederation  held  in 
Tokio.  Americans  largely  in  attendance. 


Landmarks  305 

Collections  of  Japanese  literature  established 
at  Yale,  Cornell,  Chicago,  Harvard,  and  other 
American  universities. 

1901 

Formation  of  the  Japanese  "  Society  of  Friends 
of  America,"  in  Tokio,  consisting  largely  of 
graduates  of  American  colleges. 

1902 

Monument  to  Commodore  Matthew  Calbraith 
Perry  dedicated  in  Japan. 

1903 

Collections  of  Japanese  products,  chiefly  art 
works,  opened  to  the  public  in  Boston,  Salem, 
Philadelphia,  Washington,  Chicago,  and  San 
Francisco. 

1904 

Exhibition  of  Japanese  art  and  products  at  the 
Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition  at  St.  Louis. 
About  seven  hundred  Japanese  present  and  every 
line  of  human  achievement  represented,  showing 
Japan's  amazing  progress  in  Western  civilization. 

Great  celebration  in  Yokohama  marking  the 
Jubilee  of  Commodore  Perry's  arrival. 

1905 

The  Emperor  makes  a  gift  of  10,000  yen  to  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of  America, 
active  in  Manchuria  with  the  armies. 


306  America  to  Japan 

Decoration  by  the  Emperor  of  James  Curtis 
Hepburn,  M.D.,  on  his  ninetieth  birthday.  Dr. 
Hepburn  was  missionary  physician,  lexicographer, 
Bible  translator,  and  general  philanthropist,  in 
Japan,  from  1859  to  1892. 

Peace  negotiations  at  Portsmouth,  New  Hamp 
shire,  between  the  Russian  and  Japanese  com 
missioners. 

1906 

President  Roosevelt,  in  his  message  to  Congress, 
pays  a  high  tribute  to  the  spirit  and  methods  of 
Japan  in  her  acceptance  and  promotion  of  modern 
civilization. 

Japan  sends  her  first  envoy,  Viscount  Shuzo 
Aoki,  to  the  United  States  with  the  rank  of 
ambassador. 

Copyright  convention  between  the  United  States 
and  Japan  ratified  April  29. 

1908 

Arbitration  treaty,  United  States-Japan. 

Visit  to  New  York  of  two  Japanese  war  ships. 
Admiral  Ijiun,  General  Kuroki,  and  staff  given 
receptions. 

Formation  of  the  Japan  Society  in  New  York. 

The  United  States  Government  recognizes  the 
sovereignty  of  Japan  over  Korea. 

The  governments  of  the  United  States  and 
Japan  form  an  entente,  agreeing  to  communicate 


Landmarks  30? 

with  each  other  whenever  deemed  necessary  in 
order  to  arrive  at  an  understanding  as  to  a  common 
aim,  policy,  or  intention. 

The  United  States  fleet  of  battleships  on  its 
trip  around  the  world  is  given  an  enthusiastic 
reception  at  Yokahama. 

1909 

Publication,  in  English,  of  Count  Okuma's 
Fifty  Years  in  New  Japan. 

Death  of  Prince  I  to,  "the  most  widely  known 
Japanese"  and  one  of  the  most  powerful  personal 
forces  in  modern  civilization. 

Death  of  Mrs.  E.  R.  Miller  (nee  Kidder),  first 
foreign  woman  to  travel  extensively  in  Japan. 
She  taught  Japanese  girls  from  1869  to  1905. 

1910 

Plan  suggested  by  the  American  Secretary  of 
State  to  neutralize  railways  in  Manchuria. 

Durham  W.  Stevens,  for  twenty  years  diplo 
matic  adviser  of  the  Japanese  Government  in 
Japan  and  Korea,  shot  by  an  assassin.  Generous 
provision  made  by  the  Government  of  Japan  for 
his  relatives. 

The  American  Commercial  Commission  travels 
in  Japan. 

American,  Japanese,  and  European  doctors,  113 
in  number,  stamp  out  the  pest  in  Manchuria,  thus 
reversing  the  medical  history  of  ages. 


308  America  to  Japan 

1911 

Publication  of  the  revised  treaties  which  the 
United  States  signed  February  21,  followed  on 
later  dates  by  twenty  others. 

1911-1912 

As  Exchange  Professor,  Dr.  Inazo  Nitobe 
delivers  166  lectures  in  the  United  States. 

1912 

Death  of  His  Majesty,  Mutsuhito,  known  to 
foreigners  as  " Mutsuhito  the  Great,"  and  in 
history  as  the  "  Meiji  Tenno. "  Secretary  of  State 
Knox  attended  the  funeral  as  the  President's 
representative. 

Dr.  Hamilton  Wright  Mabie,  editor  of  The 
Outlook,  visits  Japan  as  Exchange  Lecturer. 

The  Japanese  Commercial  Commission  visits 
about  sixty  cities  or  towns  in  the  United  States. 

1913 

Foreign  visitors  to  the  number  of  21,886  visit 
Japan.  Of  these  5077  were  Americans. 

1914 

Count  Okuma,  one  of  Dr.  Verbeck's  first  pupils 
in  1859-1863,  becomes  premier  of  Japan.  Life 
long  friend  of  America. 

The  Emperor  makes  a  gift  of  25,000  yen  to  the 
American  Episcopal  Hospital  in  Tokio. 


Landmarks  3°9 

Thirty  Japanese  leaders  in  various  professions 
send  Japan's  Message  to  America,  a  volume  of  243 
pages  edited  by  N.  Masaoka.  Republished  in  the 
United  States  by  the  Japan  Society  in  1915. 

1915 

Exhibit  of  Japan  at  the  Panama  Exposition. 


MILLARD  FILLMORE,  PRESIDENT  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA,  TO  HIS 
IMPERIAL  MAJESTY,  THE  EMPEROR  OF 
JAPAN 

GREAT  AND  GOOD  FRIEND:  I  send  you  this 
public  letter  by  Commodore  Matthew  C.  Perry,  an 
officer  of  the  highest  rank  in  the  navy  of  the 
United  States,  and  commander  of  the  squadron 
now  visiting  your  imperial  majesty's  dominions. 

I  have  directed  Commodore  Perry  to  assure 
your  imperial  majesty  that  I  entertain  the  kindest 
feelings  toward  your  majesty's  person  and  govern 
ment,  and  that  I  have  no  other  object  in  sending 
him  to  Japan  but  to  propose  to  your  imperial 
majesty  that  the  United  States  and  Japan  should 
live  in  friendship  and  have  commercial  intercourse 
with  each  other. 

The  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States 
forbid  all  interference  with  the  religious  or  political 
concerns  of  other  nations.  I  have  particularly 
charged  Commodore  Perry  to  abstain  from  every 
act  which  could  possibly  disturb  the  tranquillity 
of  your  imperial  majesty's  dominions. 

The  United  States  of  America  reach  from  ocean 
to  ocean,  and  our  Territory  of  Oregon  and  State 

310 


President  to  Emperor  311 

of  California  lie  directly  opposite  to  the  dominions 
of  your  imperial  majesty.  Our  steamships  can  go 
from  California  to  Japan  in  eighteen  days. 

Our  great  State  of  California  produces  about 
sixty  millions  of  dollars  in  gold  every  year,  besides 
silver,  quicksilver,  precious  stones,  and  many  other 
valuable  articles.  Your  imperial  majesty's  sub 
jects  are  skilled  in  many  of  the  arts.  I  am  desir 
ous  that  our  two  countries  should  trade  with  each 
other,  for  the  benefit  both  of  Japan  and  the  United 
States. 

We  know  that  the  ancient  laws  of  your  im 
perial  majesty's  government  do  not  allow  of  foreign 
trade,  except  with  the  Chinese  and  the  Dutch; 
but  as  the  state  of  the  world  changes  and  new 
governments  are  formed,  it  seems  to  be  wise,  from 
time  to  time,  to  make  new  laws.  There  was  a  time 
when  the  ancient  laws  of  your  imperial  majesty's 
government  were  first  made. 

About  the  same  time  America,  which  is  some 
times  called  the  New  World,  was  first  discovered 
and  settled  by  the  Europeans.  For  a  long  time 
there  were  but  a  few  people,  and  they  were  poor. 
They  have  now  become  quite  numerous;  their 
commerce  is  very  extensive;  and  they  think  that 
if  your  imperial  majesty  were  so  far  to  change  the 
ancient  laws  as  to  allow  a  free  trade  between  the 
two  countries  it  would  be  extremely  beneficial 
to  both. 

If  your  imperial  majesty  is  not  satisfied  that  it 
would  be  safe  altogether  to  abrogate  the  ancient 


312  America  to  Japan 

laws  which  forbid  foreign  trade,  they  might  be 
suspended  for  five  or  ten  years,  so  as  to  try  the 
experiment.  If  it  does  not  prove  as  beneficial 
as  was  hoped,  the  ancient  laws  can  be  restored. 
The  United  States  often  limit  their  treaties  with 
foreign  States  to  a  few  years,  and  then  renew  them 
or  not,  as  they  please. 

I  have  directed  Commodore  Perry  to  mention 
another  thing  to  your  imperial  majesty.  Many 
of  our  ships  pass  every  year  from  California  to 
China;  and  great  numbers  of  our  people  pursue 
the  whale  fishery  near  the  shores  of  Japan.  It 
sometimes  happens,  in  stormy  weather,  that  one  of 
our  ships  is  wrecked  on  your  imperial  majesty's 
shores.  In  all  cases  we  ask,  and  expect,  that 
our  unfortunate  people  should  be  treated  with 
kindness,  and  that  their  property  should  be  pro 
tected,  till  we  can  send  a  vessel  and  bring 
them  away.  We  are  very  much  in  earnest  in 
this. 

Commodore  Perry  is  also  directed  by  me  to 
represent  to  your  imperial  majesty  that  we  under 
stand  there  is  a  great  abundance  of  coal  and  pro 
visions  in  the  Empire  of  Japan.  Our  steamships, 
in  crossing  the  great  ocean,  burn  a  great  deal  of 
coal,  and  it  is  not  convenient  to  bring  it  all  the 
way  from  America.  We  wish  that  our  steamships 
and  other  vessels  should  be  allowed  to  stop  in 
Japan  and  supply  themselves  with  coal,  provisions, 
and  water.  They  will  pay  for  them  in  money, 
or  anything  else  your  imperial  majesty's  subjects 


President  to  Emperor  313 

may  prefer;  and  we  request  your  imperial  maj 
esty  to  appoint  a  convenient  port,  in  the  south 
ern  part  of  the  Empire,  where  our  vessels  may 
stop  for  this  purpose.  We  are  very  desirous  of 
this. 

These  are  the  only  objects  for  which  I  have  sent 
Commodore  Perry,  with  a  powerful  squadron,  to 
pay  a  visit  to  your  imperial  majesty's  renowned 
city  of  Yedo:  friendship,  commerce,  a  supply  of 
coal  and  provisions,  and  protection  for  our  ship 
wrecked  people. 

We  have  directed  Commodore  Perry  to  beg 
your  imperial  majesty's  acceptance  of  a  few 
presents.  They  are  of  no  great  value  in  themselves ; 
but  some  of  them  may  serve  as  specimens  of  the 
articles  manufactured  in  the  United  States,  and 
they  are  intended  as  tokens  of  our  sincere  and 
respectful  friendship. 

May  the  Almighty  have  your  imperial  majesty 
in  His  great  and  holy  keeping ! 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  caused  the  great  seal 
of  the  United  States  to  be  hereunto  affixed,  and 
have  subscribed  the  same  with  my  name,  at  the 
city  of  Washington,  in  America,  the  seat  of  my 
government,  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  the  month 
of  November,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  fifty-two. 

Your  good  friend 

MlLLARD  FlLLMORE. 

By  the  President:  EDWARD  EVERETT, 

Secretary  of  State. 


314  America  to  Japan 

REPLY  TO  THE  TYCOON  OF  JAPAN 
August  i,  1 86 1 

A.  LINCOLN,  PRESIDENT  OF   THE  UNITED 
STATEvS  OF  AMERICA 

TO  HIS   MAJESTY,  THE    TYCOON   OF   JAPAN 

GREAT  AND  GOOD  FRIEND:  I  have  received  the 
letter  which  you  have  addressed  to  me  on  the 
subject  of  a  desired  extension  of  the  time  stipu 
lated  by  treaty  for  the  opening  of  certain  ports  and 
cities  in  Japan.  The  question  is  surrounded  with 
many  difficulties.  While  it  is  my  earnest  desire 
to  consult  the  convenience  of  Your  Majesty,  and 
to  accede,  so  far  as  I  can,  to  your  reasonable 
wishes,  so  kindly  expressed,  the  interests  of  the 
United  States  must,  nevertheless,  have  due  con 
sideration.  Townsend  Harris,  minister  resident 
near  Your  Majesty,  will  be  fully  instructed  as  to 
the  views  of  this  government,  and  will  make  them 
known  to  you  at  large.  I  do  not  permit  myself 
to  doubt  that  these  views  will  meet  with  Your 
Majesty's  approval,  for  they  proceed  not  less 
from  a  just  regard  for  the  interest  and  prosperity 
of  your  empire  than  from  considerations  affecting 
our  own  welfare  and  honor. 

Wishing  abundant  prosperity  and  length  of 
years  to  the  great  state  over  which  you  preside, 
I  pray  God  to  have  Your  Majesty  always  in  his 
safe  and  holy  keeping. 


Root-Takahira  Notes  3J5 

Written  at  the  city  of  Washington,  this  ist  day 
of  August,  1861.     Your  good  friend, 

A.  LINCOLN. 
By  the  President :  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD, 

Secretary  of  State. 


NOTES  EXCHANGED  BETWEEN  THE  UNITED 
STATES  AND  JAPAN,  NOVEMBER  30,  1908, 
DECLARING  THEIR  POLICY  IN  THE  FAR 
EAST 

IMPERIAL  JAPANESE    EMBASSY, 
WASHINGTON, 

November  30,  1908. 

SIR: 

The  exchange  of  views  between  us,  which  has 
taken  place  at  the  several  interviews  which  I  have 
recently  had  the  honor  of  holding  with  you,  has 
shown  that  Japan  and  the  United  States  holding 
important  outlying  insular  possessions  in  the  region 
of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  the  governments  of  the  two 
countries  are  animated  by  a  common  aim,  policy, 
and  intention  in  that  region. 

Believing  that  a  frank  avowal  of  that  aim,  policy, 
and  intention  would  not  only  tend  to  strengthen 
the  relations  of  friendship  and  good  neighborhood, 
which  have  immemorially  existed  between  Japan 
and  the  United  States,  but  would  materially  con 
tribute  to  the  preservation  of  the  general  peace, 


316  America  to  Japan 

the  Imperial  Government  have  authorized  me  to 
present  to  you  an  outline  of  their  understanding 
of  that  common  aim,  policy,  and  intention  : 

1.  It  is  the  wish  of  the  two  governments  to 
encourage  the  free  and  peaceful  development  of 
their  commerce  on  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

2.  The  policy  of  both  governments,  uninflu 
enced  by  any  aggressive  tendencies,  is  directed  to 
the  maintenance  of  the  existing  status  quo  in  the 
region  above  mentioned  and  to  the  defense  of  the 
principle  of  equal  opportunity  for  commerce  and 
industry  in  China. 

3.  They  are  accordingly  firmly  resolved   re 
ciprocally   to   respect   the   territorial   possessions 
belonging  to  each  other  in  said  region. 

4.  They  are  also  determined  to  preserve  the 
common  interest  of  all  powers  in  China  by  sup 
porting  by  all  pacific  means  at  their  disposal  the 
independence   and    integrity   of   China   and    the 
principle  of  equal  opportunity  for  commerce  and 
industry  of  all  nations  in  that  Empire. 

5.  Should   any   event   occur   threatening   the 
status  quo  as  above  described  or  the  principle  of 
equal  opportunity  as  above  defined,  it  remains  for 
the  two  governments  to  communicate  with  each 
other  in  order  to  arrive  at  an  understanding  as  to 
what  measures  they  may   consider  it  useful  to 
take. 

If  the  foregoing  outline  accords  with  the  view  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  I  shall  be 
gratified  to  receive  your  confirmation. 


Root-Takahira  Notes  317 

I  take  this  opportunity  to  renew  to  Your  Excel 
lency  the  assurance  of  my  highest  consideration. 

K.  TAKAHIRA. 
Honorable  ELIHU  ROOT, 
Secretary  of  State. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE, 

WASHINGTON,  November  30,  1908. 

EXCELLENCY: 

I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
your  note  of  to-day  setting  forth  the  result  of  the 
exchange  of  views  between  us  in  our  recent  inter 
views  defining  the  understanding  of  the  two 
governments  in  regard  to  their  policy  in  the  region 
of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  inform  you  that  this  expres 
sion  of  mutual  understanding  is  welcome  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  as  appropriate 
to  the  happy  relations  of  the  two  countries  and  as 
the  occasion  for  a  concise  mutual  affirmation  of 
that  accordant  policy  respecting  the  Far  East 
which  the  two  governments  have  so  frequently 
declared  in  the  past. 

I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  confirm  to  Your  Excel 
lency,  on  behalf  of  the  United  States,  the  declar 
ation  of  the  two  governments  embodied  in  the 
following  words: 

I.  It  is  the  wish  of  the  two  governments  to 
encourage  the  free  and  peaceful  development  of 
their  commerce  on  the  Pacific  Ocean. 


3i 8  America  to  Japan 

2.  The  policy  of    both  governments,  uninflu 
enced  by  any  aggressive  tendencies,  is  directed  to 
the  maintenance  of  the  existing  status  quo  in  the 
region  above  mentioned,  and  to  the  defense  of  the 
principle  of  equal  opportunity  for  commerce  and 
industry  in  China. 

3.  They  are   accordingly  firmly   resolved   re 
ciprocally    to    respect  the   territorial  possessions 
belonging  to  each  other  in  said  region. 

4.  They  are  also  determined  to  preserve  the 
common  interests  of  all  powers  in  China  by  sup 
porting  by  all  pacific  means  at  their  disposal  the 
independence   and    integrity   of   China    and    the 
principle  of  equal  opportunity  for  commerce  and 
industry  of  all  nations  in  that  Empire. 

5.  Should   any   event   occur   threatening   the 
status  quo  as  above  described  or  the  principle  of 
equal  opportunity  as  above  defined,  it  remains  for 
the  two  Governments  to  communicate  with  each 
other  in  order  to  arrive  at  an  understanding  as 
to  what  measures  they  may  consider  it  useful  to 
take. 

Accept,  Excellency,  the  renewed  assurance  of 
my  highest   consideration. 

ELIHU  ROOT. 

His  Excellency, 
Baron  KOGORO  TAKAHIRA, 
Japanese  Ambassador. 


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